Every Dog Has Its Day
by Elemental Transmutation
Summary: An insane criminal escapes and causes chaos in Central. A member of Mustang's team is taken and the kidnapper keeps leaving little presents. Can they be found in time? Summary sux, story is better. Royai
1. The stench of

Hello Everyone. If you've opened this I hope it's to read it and not by accident.

Disclaimer: Not mine. Never will be.

The plot is mine.

Inspired by the fic**The Stroll Down Death Road** by www. Wrathchan .com (remove spaces before searching). A great story.

I went searching for more like it but couldn't find any and was deeply disappointed. So with the help of my friend I have been writing this. It is set in 1910, while they are in Central. There will be eventual Royai, probably not much but at least there will be some. There also might be some OCxOC. I have three OC's in this story so far. I've already written up to I think about Chapter 12 and have thus far typed up 3.

Please enjoy.

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Chapter 1

**The stench of…**

"Lieutenant?" Colonel Roy Mustang called as he poked his head out through the gap between the open doors of his office.

Second Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye looked up from her work "Yes, sir?" she replied.

"Could you come in here for a minute?" he asked and vanished back into his office without waiting for a reply.

Hawkeye set her pen on her desk and stood, pushing her chair out as she did so. She walked over to Mustang's office door and pushed it open enough to allow her to pass through. She entered the office and closed the door. When she turned to look at Mustang she noticed that his back was to her.

"Sir?" Hawkeye called, unsure if he knew of her presence.

Mustang turned around and Hawkeye couldn't help but give a half-snort at the ridiculous, but clever, contraption on his face.

_Nose clips._

She sniffed and grimaced.

"Can't get away from the smell, even in here?" she half-asked, half-stated.

He shook his head. "Nope."

He then threw a small object at her which she easily caught.

She opened her hand and looked at the object.

"Thank you," Hawkeye said as she put on the nose clips. She sighed in relief "At least it's not one of those smells you can taste," she thought aloud, her voice sounding congested due to her forcefully blocked nose.

Mustang sat down at his desk and beckoned Hawkeye closer. He folded his hands on the table and Hawkeye stood at attention on the other side. Both looked serious, well as serious as they could with nose clips on.

"At ease, Hawkeye," Mustang said, his voice congested as well.

She relaxed and awaited Mustang's orders.

"I have an errand that I need you to run," he told her.

"'Errand', sir?" she spoke carefully.

"Yes, errand," he replied "I just need you to deliver these files" he lifted a small stack of files and set them back down "to Brigadier General Tromp."

"Tromp? Tromp?" Hawkeye muttered thoughtfully "Um, he's the General with brown hair that's starting to grey, dark brown eyes that look black and is about 6'4", right?"

"Yes."

"He's all the way on the other side of the building and the easiest way to get there is to go through the male temporary dorm area. That's still cordoned off after Fullmetal's 'super stink bomb' accident."

"'Super stink bomb'?" Mustang said cautiously, almost afraid to know.

"Yeah. Apparently it was intended for this office, sir. All I can say is thank god it backfired and went off before he could get here," Hawkeye replied.

"Mmm," Mustang nodded quickly "Thank god… I think."

"Well, I'll take the files and be back soon, sir."

"Good, good," Mustang said as he handed Hawkeye the files to be delivered.

Hawkeye took a deep breath, removed the nose clips and handed them back to Mustang.

"Keep them," he said, pushing her hand back towards her.

"Thank you," she breathed out. Consequently, this led to her having to inhale again. She grimaced. "If Havoc could smell this" she gestured to the air around her, clearly meaning the smell hanging in the air and soaking into everything "he'd agree that bean burritos do **_not_** agree with him."

She turned and walked to the door, pocketing the nose clips as she walked. She opened the door and walked out.

Before she closed the door, she heard Mustang laugh heartily and mutter "Who _do_ they agree with?"

* * *

A/N: Just a little humour to kickstart things. Everything twists in the next chapter. The real action begins in Chapter 3. 

I'm currently on holidays but it may be difficult to updateeither of my two in-progress fics. (This one and Firecracker) I've only just managed to comandeer the computer from mum for tonight. If I get reviews, it might encourage me to fight harder. I'm not one to put up review bribes, but I will if I have to. Please don't make me do that.

Enough of me rambling for now...

R&R!


	2. Back and Forth

Hi again. I've managed to get the computer back for a few hours.

**Disclaimer**: Not mine. All I own is the plot, my five OC's that will appear in this story and Volumes 3 and 5 of the Manga.

Thanks to my reviewers: **Anicka **and **loyalsoul**

**Anicka:**Glad you thought so. I won't ask

**loyalsoul:** Nice to know you think that. Can't wait to hear your opinion about this chappy and the one's to follow.

Originally I wasn't planning on posting this until I got some more reviews but I'm just so happy to have gotten the computer back and I don't know how long I'll have it for. That, and 3 people have put this story on alert and I haven't even gotten to the good stuff. The same can be said about the 1 person who has favourited this story.

Anyway, please enjoy Chapter 2 of **Every Dog Has Its Day**

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Chapter 2

**Back and Forth**

Riza Hawkeye walked back across the courtyard for the fifth time in the last two hours.

After she'd arrived at Brigadier General Tromp's office, she delivered the files directly to him and they talked for about 10 minutes. They'd always gotten along well with each other every time they met.

Before she left he asked her to deliver some files to Mustang and she gladly obliged seeing as she had to go back there anyway.

10 minutes after she'd arrived back at her office and delivered Tromp's files for Mustang, Mustang discovered some more files that were supposed to go to Tromp.

Riza took them and went out through the main door, across the courtyard, around the side of the building and through one of the side entrances.

When she'd arrived back at Tromp's office, he'd had a good laugh about it and said that he too had found some more files for Mustang. (A/N: In other words, both men are very disorganized)

So she delivered Tromp's files to him, took Mustang's files and headed off again. She went back out the side entrance, around to the front of the building, across the courtyard, back through the main entrance and to Mustang's office.

This continued to happen for two hours.

On the fifth time as she was walking back from Tromp's office; she discovered something out of the ordinary parked in the courtyard, front end facing the gates.

"Don't people know they can't park there!" she muttered to herself. She sighed "I'd better go tell them to move."

She changed her path and walked towards the medium sized white truck/van.

She stopped next to the passenger side door. She put one hand on the window to shield a small section of it from the glare that the sun was causing, leaned her head close and looked in.

It looked normal enough. Glove box hanging open due to the fact it was overfilled, brochures on the passenger's seat as well as a novel and a map and other random things scattered on the floor.

"Hello?" she called, moving her head away from the window "Hello?"

"H-hello?" came a weak, shaky, female sounding voice from the back compartment of the vehicle "I-is there s-someone th-there?"

"Yes. My name is Second Lieutenant Hawkeye. Are you alright?" she asked as she moved to stand next to the rear door.

There was a pause in which Riza thought she heard the person muttering. Then: "N-no. Some psycho shoved me in here. P-please help. It's cold in her and I'm b-bleeding."

"Okay, just hold on."

Riza grabbed the door handle with her one free arm. Just before she turned it, she got a bad feeling and stopped.

"I'm gonna go get help, okay?" Riza called.

"W-wait! Please don't go! I-I'm about-t to pass out!" the woman cried.

Riza frowned. Something didn't feel right about this, but going against her better judgement, she grasped the handle again. She turned the handle and slid the door open. As she did, cold steam floated out of the van.

'Why was it unlocked?' she wondered worriedly.

Riza gasped in terror. The reports she held fell to the ground unchecked and scattered. She should've trusted her instincts.

* * *

Oooo, what's gonna happen. What is so scary that Riza Hawkeye would be terrified? Find out in the next chapter. 

A/N: All right time for me to go on and on. Well, I hope people like this chapter. The next chapter is really short but it does the job and explains why Riza is scared. You would be too.

From now on I'm going to refer to this story as **Every Dog**. Every Dog is easier to type than Every Dog Has Its Day.

It may be difficult for me to update both Every Dog and Firecracker as my mother has been running a program on the computer that requires that no one touch it while said program is running. Oh well. Will update when I can.

Oh yeah! ROYAI FOREVER!

E.T. (Elemental Transmutation not Extra Terestrial(?) I'm no alien. _looks around checking for FBI and other similar agencies_)


	3. Attack!

Hi again. Wow! Two updates in one day!

**Disclaimer:** Not mine. All I own is the plot of this story, the five OC's that will appear and volumes 3 and 5 of the Manga.

Thanks again to my reviewers: **Anicka** (x2) and **loyalsoul**

**Anicka:** Glad to know you like my story. I hope you get better soon. Have you tried Panadiene? It works wonders. Anyway, I could've made you wait longer, but because I'm so kind and generous _coughnotcough_ I've decided to post this for you to put your mind at ease. Well, maybe not at ease but... yeah...

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Chapter 3

**Attack!**

After the cold steam cleared, Riza saw no tied up, bleeding woman as she had been led to believe. Instead, standing right in the doorway, she saw a man wielding a large butcher's knife.

She gasped in shock and terror and the files she had been holding fell to the ground and scattered.

Before she could react, the man swung the butcher's knife down hard. It connected with her left shoulder.

Blood spattered out of the wound caused by the sharp knife and dripped out onto her skin and uniform, some even dripping to the ground in large droplets.

Her blood also dripped off of the knife.

"Ah!" she cried out in pain.

The man's insane smile grew ever wider at this.

While he was mesmerised by her blood, Riza grabbed her pistol out of its holster under her jacket with her right arm with practised ease.

Before she could fire, the man swung the knife around and sliced the gun clean in half.

Her normally stoic face clearly showed her shock as she watched one of her favourite guns be destroyed.

The half not being held by her flew off and hit the ground. It was soon joined by the other half after Riza threw the now useless gun to the side.

Quickly, she reached behind her with her good arm and drew out her other pistol. She aimed it at the man's head, but he smacked it out of her hand before she could shoot.

The gun flew out of sight and landed somewhere else in the courtyard.

Riza looked up at the man and he suddenly had a meat mallet instead of the knife. She instantly knew what he planned to do with it and turned to run away.

Before she could even get two steps, a sharp pain erupted on the back of her skull and everything went black.

-----

The man watched with morbid fascination as the young woman's body collapsed to the ground, her short blond hair and blue uniform in disarray.

He watched as her shoulder continued to bleed, creating a crimson puddle on the ground and sheet of paper below it.

He laughed insanely. He half-hoped no one had seen his attack and he half-hoped someone had…

He would have his revenge.

* * *

_does evil laugh_ Who could it be? Whoever gets it right gets...um...a cookie! Whatever type of cookie you want. Give it your best guess.

Let me know if you enjoyed this or not. Will update after I get more reviews. I love reviews! Of course, who doesn't.

Well, from here on out the action and mystery begins. Please enjoy!

R&R!


	4. Worry

Liebe Gott in Himmel! Wow! 11 reviews, 361 hits, 4 alerts and 1 favourite! And I'm only up to Chapter 4! I'm so glad you guys are liking this!

Thanks to all of my wonderful reviewers: **horsehearted15, words without, Anicka, loyalsoul, Jessia, theslayerslayer **and **Dailenna **

_throws a box of cookies to loyal, ravenous, reviewers_ Thanks! _runs like mad to escape line of fire_

Please enjoy! (and review. I might be able to dig up more cookies)

* * *

Chapter 4 

**Worry**

Roy was starting to get really worried. He kept shifting and fidgeting and couldn't keep his mind off of her.

He'd sent Hawkeye to deliver those files to Tromp quite some time ago and she hadn't returned yet. She would've checked in with him to inform him of her return if she had. Still…

He got up and crossed the room. Before he opened the door he removed the nose clips and breather in deeply through his nose expecting to start gagging.

Instead, he was greeted by clean, fresh, unscented air. The smell seemed to have settled.

He pocketed the nose clips and opened the door. The air was equally as fresh on the other side of the door.

He looked over at Hawkeye's desk. Just as he had thought, she wasn't there. He frowned and looked over at his other subordinates who were watching him.

He asked them "Has Hawkeye come back yet?"

"No, not yet," one of them answered, looking over at the woman in question's desk. He too frowned.

"Hmm," Roy muttered.

'Maybe she's talking with Tromp and lost track of time. Or maybe she's helping him with something,' Roy thought as he turned and disappeared back into his office, closing the door behind him.

"I'll just give him a call and ask him to send her back over," he said to himself as he walked back to his desk.

He stood on the side opposite his chair, picked up the phone and dialled the General's number. (After much searching through a phone book to find the correct number)

It rang a few times before it was finally picked up.

"Tromp," the man on the other end said.

"Hello, Brigadier General Tromp. It's Lieutenant Colonel Mustang," Roy said.

"Ah, Mustang," the man said pleasantly "What can I do for you?"

"Um, sir, could you please send Second Lieutenant Hawkeye back? She has some work to finish."

"What? You mean she hasn't gotten back yet!" he sounded slightly alarmed.

"No, sir, she hasn't," Roy replied.

"But I sent her back quite some time ago. She should've been back by now."

"She isn't," Roy now knew that something was really wrong.

"You're worried, aren't you?" Tromp asked kindly.

"Wh-What!" Roy spluttered.

"It's alright to worry about your subordinates, Mustang. Especially if they've been with you as long as she had. Especially if she's your friend." He paused "Is she your friend, Mustang?"

"Yes, sir," Roy answered after a slight pause. His brain had taken a second to really register what was said to him. He had a feeling that the General was suggesting something else too.

Tromp was a warm, kind-hearted man who could often see things that others had yet to spot.

Then man on the other end of the line chuckled slightly. "That's good to hear, Mustang," he took on a more serious note "She told me that she's been having to walk across the courtyard to get to and from my office. Meet me out there."

"Yes, sir."

With that, the two men hung up the phones.

Roy paused for a moment after hanging up, his hand still resting on the phone, and took a deep breath.

"I'm sure she's alright," he told himself "Maybe she just tripped and hurt herself and can't get help and is waiting in the courtyard. Or maybe she's knocked herself out. Or…" he stopped, there were too many 'or's. Not all of them were so optimistic.

He turned and walked out the doors of his office. When one of his subordinates asked where he was going, he said that he was going for a breath of fresh air, which was technically true.

He stepped out into the hallway where he immediately met up with his best friend, Major Maes Hughes.

Before Hughes could say, or do, anything, Roy cut him off with a sharp "Follow."

Roy and Maes walked down the halls side by side.

Maes noticed the grim set of Roy's jaw and eyes and went serious.

"What happened?" Maes asked.

"It's Hawkeye," Roy replied shortly.

"What happen? She shoot at you again, missing your head by a mere inch?" Maes half-joked.

"No."

"Well, what then!" Maes exclaimed impatiently.

"She's been AWOL for a little over an hour now," Roy spoke, sounding angry and scared all at once.

Maes calmed.

"That's not like her," Maes said.

"I know," Roy replied.

"Where are we going?"

"Out to the courtyard to meet with Brigadier General Tromp. He was the last one to see her."

"Why?"

"She's been delivering files for both me and him for some of the day. We're both very disorganized and kept finding more files that should've been delivered with the first batch," he laughed slightly.

Both he and Tromp had the same filing system. 'Set it down somewhere, usually in a pile, and look for it when it's needed'.

"So, why the courtyard?" Maes asked, trying to get the necessary information.

"Because, the easiest way to get to Tromp's office is currently blocked off after Fullmini's 'super stink bomb' accident."

"'Super Stink Bomb'?" Maes raised an eyebrow at Roy.

"I'm just quoting Hawkeye."

"I see where you're going with this," Maes said as he caught on "She had to go across the courtyard to get around to the side door."

"Exactly," Roy nodded "I figure, if she's anywhere, she's more than likely there."

"Good point."

The conversation ended as the two men exited the building and began the short walk to the courtyard, their tension mounting.

* * *

_starts to laugh evilly, chokes on own spit and goes into coughing fit_

What's gonna happen? What're they gonna find? Find out in Chapter 5 of Every Dog; **Discovery**

BTW, for those of you who can't figure it out, I'll tell ya who it is in I think Chapter 6. I'm currently in the process of typing chappy 6 up. Will update soon!

AWOL - **A**bsent **W**ith**o**ut **L**eave

R&R!

P.S. I think I'll start giving out cookies to those who review as well as those who guess correctly.


	5. Discovery

Hello again all my loyal fans! Hope you're enjoying this so far.

Anyways, I can't believe how many reviews I've gotten. I opened my Inbox this morning any HELLO! I had 14 unread messages. I don't think I've ever had that many before. Two were junk, two were stuff I sent myself from another site and that means that 10 of them were reviews. That's a record for me.

Thanks to my reviewers: **Anicka, kenzigirl, FruitsBasketFreak44, bohemianwriterredroses, theslayerslayer, loyalsoul, Fullmetalfan, horsehearted15, words without, Jessia **and** Dailenna**

_throws promised box of cookies to reviewers_ Here ya go!

I forgot the disclaimer on the last chappy! Oops.

**Disclaimer:** Not mine. I only own the plot of this story, the five OC's that I have so far written into this story (Tromp being one of them) and volumes 3 and 5 of the Manga.

Ahem. Anyway, please enjoy the fifth chapter of Every Dog Has Its Day.

* * *

Chapter 5 

**Discovery**

When the two men reached the courtyard, they spotted a small crowd of military officers all standing around something near the edge. They looked at each other, nodded and walked briskly towards the group.

When they were still about 30 meters away, they spotted a familiar man. He was a little difficult to miss due to his height. The man had spotted them and was waving them over.

"Mustang!" Tromp called.

Roy and Maes jogged the remaining distance.

"Hey, Russel!" Maes greeted the General, as soon as they were close enough.

"'Russel'?" Roy questioned.

Maes shrugged. "We worked together a while ago on a big case and became friends."

Roy turned away from Maes and looked to the General "What's going on here, sir?"

"I don't know," he replied "I only just got here myself."

"Well, there's one way to find out," Roy said determinedly.

"You mean…?" Maes trailed off.

Roy nodded "Yes."

The three men turned to face the crowd. They looked at each other and nodded firmly. What they were about to do required a lot of skill and luck.

They each took a deep breath and…

"Outta my way! Lieutenant Colonel coming through!"

"Move it! I'm a Brigadier General so get outta my way!"

"Excuse me! Coming through! Move or I'll show you pictures of my darling Elysia!"

The three men shoved their way through the crowd, each shouting something different to get through. (Maes' was the most effective. He was essentially shoved to the front of the group.)

When they finally arrived at the front of the group about 3 minutes later (they kept getting shoved in all different directions including backwards) they all gasped at what they saw. Their eyes widened.

There were no barriers, so the three moved forward further, into the area that the group was surrounding. As they moved forward they pulled on a pair of gloves each.

Roy wandered around the area carefully, so as not to disturb anything. He looked at the blood spattered on the ground and on the scattered papers.

The blood trail seemed to start at a large dark reddy-brown stain. It led across the ground in droplets, smears and bloody foot steps. The trail vanished roughly where the tyre marks started.

There had been a fight here; there was no doubt about that.

"Uh, Roy?" Maes called from his right, the direction of the now bent and busted gate.

"What is it?" Roy asked once he was standing in front of Maes.

"Look," Maes gestured to the ground.

They both looked.

"What!" Roy exclaimed in shock.

On the ground in front of them was a gun. Or more precisely, two _halves_ of a gun.

Each half lay 2 or so meters from each other. It was obvious from the positions of each half that it had not been split after hitting the ground. The gun barrel was pointing back towards the blood and tyre tracks. The handle end was pointing off into the crowd.

Maes pulled a pencil out, bent down and picked the half with the handle up by sticking the end of the pencil into the sliced open bullet chamber.

He stood back up with the gun-half on the end of the pencil and held it in front of Roy's face.

"Look familiar?" Maes asked.

Roy studied the gun-half dangling 30cm away from his face. He looked over it for any familiarities.

He found one. A small burn mark along the grip.

"Yeah," Roy said as he grabbed the gun off of the pencil with his gloved hands.

Maes pocketed the pencil.

"This burn indentation here," Roy continued as he ran his fingers across the mark "This happened a few months ago. I fell asleep with my Ignition gloves on. When Hawkeye shot at me to wake me up, I accidentally snapped. She dropped the gun and her hand only got lightly burned. The gun however," he tapped the handle "ended up with this. I thought for sure she would've replaced the grip by now. Surely the partially melted grip was an obstruction."

"She told me she thought it gave it character. She never told me how it happened though," Maes said.

"Mustang! Hughes!" came a loud shout from Tromp. The two spun around to face the General "Get over here!"

Maes and Roy, who had just pocketed the gun-half, ran over to Tromp. He was kneeling near the blood spattered, scattered papers.

Tromp picked one of the sheets up by the non-bloody top left corner.

All that remained visible on the paper was a few of the paragraphs, a few sentences and a few words.

Near the top there were five visible words. They read:

'To: Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang'

"These are the files and reports I sent back with her."

* * *

Oooo, what's gonna happen next? Find out in Chapter 6 of Every Dog! _ducks flaming cattle skulls and other random crap_ Feel free to give me a hit on the head if I don't update soon. I've got chores to do which I should be doing now. Getting hit on the head really doesn't phase me anymore, I've done it that many times... 

Alright, be honest, who didn't see what they did to get through the crowd coming.

Okay, to all of you out there who are reading this and don't know who it is, I plan on revealling it in chapter 9. Sorry to those of you I told that it would be chapter 6. I made a mistake and forgot about the chapters that introduce 3 more OC's into this messed up...mess. _sweatdrops at lack of ability to find a better word_

Don't forget about my cookie offer. If you want I might be able to dig up some cupcakes or muffins. _trying to shift people onto those due to the fact that cookies are running low_

R&R!

E.T. (remember it doesn't stand for extra terestrial (?). _glances around checking for Dib or members of the Swollen Eyeballs_)


	6. One of Those Times You Wish You'd Never

Hello! I'm back! I know it's only been a few days but people have been pestering me to update.

In this Chapter we find out how Riza's doing. I know it's short but at least it explains how she's fairing. Next Chapter will be longer. It's already 3 Microsoft Word pages long and I've only typed up the first part of it.

**Disclaimer**: Not mine. Too lazy to type everything out.

Thanks to my reviewers: **Dailenna, bohemianwriterredroses, Fullmetalfan, FruitsBasketFreak44, loyalsoul, dingi, Anicka, kenzigirl, horsehearted15, words without, Jessia**and **theslayerslayer**

**Anicka:** Here's your muffin. It's double choc chip. _hands over muffin_

**Everyone else (reviewers):** Here's your cookies. _hands over cookies_

**bohemianwriterredroses:** Share them. You know what I mean.

* * *

Chapter 6 

**One of those times you wish you'd never woken up**

Pain. Cold. Numb. Frozen. Shivering.

These were the first things Riza Hawkeye was aware of upon regaining consciousness.

She moaned slightly. It felt like her head had been hit by a meat mallet. Then she remembered. It had.

She became aware, rather painfully, that she was lying on her left side. To relieve the pain she attempted to sit up only to discover that her shoulder was stuck to the ground.

She pried her amber eyes open. They adjusted quickly to the fairly dim lighting in the cold room she was in.

She turned her head slightly to look at the ground. She saw what was holding her to the ground. A frozen pool of red. It was her blood. She could tell from the fact that what she could see of her uniform had turned a deep purple and was, literally, frozen stiff.

Gently, she placed her right hand on the ground in front of her chest, closed her eyes and braced herself. She pushed up hard and ripped her shoulder free of its icy, bloody prison.

She hissed in pain, clutched her shoulder and went back down on her back.

She waited for the pain to recede. When it did she pushed herself upright, slowly, not wanting to overdo it.

Agony ripped through her skull as soon as she was upright. Her hands flew up to her head and clutched it. She completely ignored her painful, yet numb, left shoulder.

When the pain receded to a dull throb, she lowered her hands to the cold ground to hold her upright.

She opened her eyes again and glanced over at her aching shoulder. She saw a large gash in it where the uniform fabric was split and slashed open and soaked in blood. She was amazed she could use the arm at all.

She looked away from her shoulder and glanced around the room. She noticed that she was in some sort of cold room or freezer or something. When she saw what was hanging around the room, her eyes widened.

Just then, a metal door opened. Bright light flooded in and temporarily blinded Riza. The light cast across the room clearly illuminated Riza who was sitting about halfway between the back wall and the door.

She raised an arm to shield her eyes. She looked over at the door. A man was silhouetted in the frame.

"Ah, you're awake. Good," the man's bone chilling voice spoke. He stepped in and closed the door. "Thought I might have killed you and spoiled the fun."

Riza's eyes readjusted to the re-dimmed light. She gasped when she saw who was standing in the room with her.

"You!" she gasped "But I thought you were in prison! I was there when you were arrested!"

"Exactly," he stalked over to the half-frozen woman "I escaped and now I'm going to get my revenge."

The man bent down and pulled Riza to her feet by her uninjured arm. He then grasped her injured shoulder and placed just enough pressure on it to cause enough pain to make her body submissive. He then pushed her forward by the shoulder.

When he got her where he wanted her, he pressed hard into the gash and she collapsed to the ground. Her head rested on the ground and she clutched her arm to her.

She turned her head and glared at his back through pain-filled watery eyes as he did something on the table in front of him. She could hear the sound of metal hitting metal. Carefully, she pushed herself upright to sit on the lower half of her legs, never once taking her eyes off of her kidnapper. She continued to hold her arm close to her body.

The man turned around and flinched at the glare being directed at him. If looks could kill…

He chuckled and the glare intensified, it that was at all possible. He cleared his throat, coughed and stepped over to his hostage. He knelt down in front of the young woman and set down the set of chains he was carrying. He grasped Riza's wrists and pulled them out despite her attempts at fighting. Too much of her body was in a state of pins and needles to fight back properly.

The man wrapped the chains around her wrists and made sure that they were secure. He than stood up, grabbed the excess chain and pulled Riza to her feet. He hooked the loop in the chain onto a hook in a long line of hooks, some already occupied by other things, but not humans. She looked at the two hooks around her. The one in front was empty, but the one behind her had a pig carcass on it. She'd always hated pork, and now she had an even better reason to hate it.

"I'll leave you to get settled in," he said and left the room.

"Hey wait! Come b-aah!" Riza cried out as she tried to move after him, only to have the chains pull her back.

After a short, 5 second battle to keep her balance, which she lost, she slipped on the cold, frozen, slippery floor beneath her feet.

When she fell, the chains stopped her and caused all of her weight to work against her.

Pain raced up and down her arms. She hung there limply for a few minutes in the now much darker room, her wrists being forced to hold all of her weight.

When standing, there was enough chain to allow some slack, but when she fell all of that slack vanished. Her legs were bent slightly, her toes touched the ground and the tops of her boots barely grazed it.

As her head slumped forward and her eyes slid shut, her amber eyes went dull and a few tears escaped only to freeze the moment they dripped off of her face. Darkness claimed her once more as pain ripped through her entire body.

* * *

_evil laugh_ What's gonna happen to her? Find out in Chapters to come of Every Dog. 

**Next Chapter:** The Klutz with Important Information

The next chappy introduces another OC.

Hope you enjoyed this chappy.

R&R!

E.T.


	7. The Klutz with Important Information

Hi all!

I hope everyone likes this chapter. It's the longest one yet and quite possibly the longest all together. For those of you out there griping that my chapters are too short, no offence intended, this chapter I am dedicating to you.

**Disclaimer:** Not mine.

Thanks to my reviewers: **Anicka, loyalsoul, Dailenna, Simply Chris, Chachamaru15, bohemianwriterredroses, Fullmetalfan, FruitsBasketFreak44, dingi, kenzigirl, theslayerslayer, horsehearted15, words without **and** Jessia**

Cookies and Muffins for all! _cookies and muffins fly dramatically out of no where and into reviewers hands and mouths_

**bohemianwriterredroses:** Here's a few extra cookies for you seeing as you did actually share the cookies. They're triple fudge with three kinds of chocolate. _hands over 3 cookies_

Just a note, this chapter is really light-hearted and humorous. Thought it was needed in such angsty piece.

* * *

Chapter 7 

**The Klutz with Important Information**

The young woman ran as fast and hard as she could. She had received her orders to deliver important information and she would be damned if she didn't fulfil her orders.

She ran full pelt past the military's 12 warehouses, past warehouse A and B and past the old parade grounds. She ran past several officers and other people who worked on the grounds. A few of them looked at her strange, but she didn't notice. She was used to getting odd looks.

It was times like these she was glad she always made the effort to keep herself fit and in shape.

She ran around a few corners and onto the parade grounds where there were several groups of high ranking officials doing various jobs or having discussions.

As she continued to run she saw a couple of soldiers that she knew and heard the name of the man she was searching out come up.

She tried to stop, but ended up skidding past them.

She spun around mid-skid and ended up facing the direction she had just come from. Unfortunately, in doing so she didn't see the chair behind her and skidded into it. She landed in a seated position in the chair but her momentum sent the chair toppling backwards.

"Whoa!" she shrieked.

As she lay there with every single officer on the grounds or surrounding area (most of them Colonel or above) staring at her, she happened to think that it was a good thing that she wore the pant uniform instead of the skirt uniform. This would've been even more embarrassing if she had been wearing the skirt.

When the shock from her fall dissipated, everyone who saw it started to laugh, instantly recognizing who the woman must be by her very unique features.

Everyone continued to laugh but went back to what they were doing.

The young woman heard two chuckling men coming towards her.

"Jeez," one of them said as they approached her "You've outdone yourself this time."

The one that had spoken had auburn hair and blue eyes. He was a Sergeant. The other man with him was a Sergeant Major. He had brown hair and kind chocolate brown eyes. Both were smiling broadly and had a twinkle in their eyes that made the young woman think that they weren't going to let her live this down for a while.

"Look, you can tease me _after_ you help me up," she said huffily as she folded her arms over her chest.

The two men chuckled. "I dunno…" the Sergeant said.

When the young woman managed to kick them both in the side, they sobered up and squatted on either side of her.

They each placed one hand on her forearm and the other on her upper arms. They hefted her up and the woman was soon standing.

As she dusted herself off, the Sergeant Major, whom she secretly had a crush on, decided to tease her a little.

"I can't believe they let you in the military. You're a major klutz," he laughed.

The Sergeant laughed as well.

"_Corporal_ Klutz, thank you very much," she said as she tapped her epaulettes "Though I can't say I protest to the field promotion," She winked "And what do you mean, you can't believe they let me into the military? They let him in didn't they?" she jerked her thumb over her shoulder to indicate the laughing Sergeant behind her.

"Ha ha, guess you're right," the Sergeant Major replied, chuckling started anew.

"Ha – Hey! Whadda ya mean by that!" the Sergeant screeched indignantly.

They ignored him. A few seconds later he gave up on getting an answer and spoke again.

"So kid, what're you running for this time? You know you plus running equals disasters," the red-haired, grumpy, man asked.

"Hey! I wish you wouldn't call me kid. I'm only 3 years younger than you are!" she retorted, spinning around to face him.

"And I'm never gonna let you forget that," he said back with a smirk. "So I'll ask again, why the running?"

"I have important information for Lieutenant Colonel Mustang," she replied formally "Have you seen him? I heard you talking about him. That's why I stopped."

She glared at the Sergeant Major before he could comment on that. He shut his mouth. She could be scary.

"Oh, and here I thought you just wanted to see me," the Sergeant said feigning hurt, clutching his chest with both hands and closing his eyes dramatically.

"Oh get over it, Martin!" she snapped at the Sergeant.

"Ahem."

"Grr. _Sergeant_ Green."

He smiled idiotically.

"He went in the direction of the main building. He had a few other people with them," the Sergeant Major replied.

The woman turned and smiled at him using her million dollar smile "Thank you, Mark."

He blushed slightly. He, secretly, reciprocated the 24 year old woman's feelings. Of course, neither was aware that the other felt the same way.

She stood at attention and faced both of them.

"Well, Sergeant Green, Sergeant Major Halaway, I best off if I'm to catch up to Mustang. You have been most helpful."

She then spun on her heel and took off running.

"Don't trip over any more chairs!" Mark called after her.

"Or crash into any Generals! ...Again!" Martin called out.

"Shut up!" she yelled back over her shoulder and gave them both a rather obscene hand gesture.

They laughed as she disappeared around a corner, and went back to what they had been doing.

-----------

The woman raced as fast as she could in the direction of the main building. She rounded another corner and spotted the man she was trying to catch round a corner up ahead.

"Wait! Lieutenant Colonel Mustang! Sir!" she yelled as she too dashed around the corner, only to run into the chest of a man much taller than herself.

She landed on her ass. "Ow," she whimpered.

"Are you alright?" the man she'd run into asked as he offered an arm to help her up.

She grasped the proffered arm and allowed the man to help her to her feet.

"Yeah, I'm fi--" she cut herself off when she saw who she'd bumped in to. "Ah! Sir! I should be asking you that!" she exclaimed as she saluted the Fuhrer.

He saluted back and chuckled "I'm quite alright, thank you, Corporal."

They dropped the salutes.

"I'm sorry, sir. I was just trying to- I didn't see--" the Fuhrer cut her off by raising his hand.

"It doesn't matter. It was an accident," he told her "Why are you in such a hurry?"

She stood straight "I have important information to deliver to Lieutenant Colonel Mustang, sir."

"What information would that be?" he questioned.

"Ah!" she froze and bowed her head "I'm sorry, sir. I cannot tell you."

"Oh and why not?"

"Because I am under strict orders from General Hakuro to deliver this information to the Lieutenant Colonel and tell no one, no matter how high their rank, except him and only him. Even then, only in his office alone," she bowed her head deeper "There is a chance it could be leaked if I told anyone else. Of course, I'm sure the General would understand if you ordered me to tell you, sir. I don't think he anticipated me bumping into you."

He chuckled. Her head shot up in shock. She had not expected him to _chuckle_. Yell at her, maybe. Chuckle, no.

"No, no. It's quite alright. I'll just ask Hakuro myself," he said as he walked up next to her so that he was parallel with her. He placed a hand on her shoulder "You're good at following your orders. Not many people could've said what you just said to me." He moved a few paces past her after removing his hand. "You'd better get going if you want to catch him. I think he's on his way to the main building."

"Thank you, sir," the young female Corporal said after she turned around and was looking at the Fuhrer's back. She saluted him and turned around and took off running again.

-----------

She managed to find Mustang again a few minutes later. He was just starting up the steps when she got to the courtyard.

"Lieutenant Colonel Mustang!" she hollered "Lieutenant Colonel Mustang, sir!"

He entered the building without hearing her.

"Dammit!" she cursed as she sped up "Lieutenant Colonel Mustang!"

She dashed up the stairs.

"Sir! Lieutenant Colonel Must- oof!" she crashed into the glass doors thoroughly startling the people in the foyer. She hadn't been paying attention to where the door was and hit it. She bounced off of it and was on her ass again.

Her naturally white hair fell about her shoulders and tumbled loose to its full length, about the middle of her back. It had fallen completely free of the tight, yet loose, bun she always wore it in; save for her bangs, which only reached her eyebrows.

"What _is_ it with me and falling over today?" she muttered to herself.

"That looked painful," a young male voice from next to her said "Are you okay?" a white-gloved hand appeared in her line of sight.

She followed the arm up to the owner. The owner turned out to be a young boy who looked no older than 12 or 13 and was short, especially when compared to the suit of armour standing next to him. Apparently the boy hadn't hit his growth spurt yet.

He had blonde hair that was pulled back into a braid and he had golden eyes. He wore white gloves, a black shirt with a large zipper, black pants and black boots. Over all of this he wore a red coat.

The boy was looking over the woman. When she looked up, his eyes were drawn straight to hers. Her eyes were exactly the same colour red as his coat. He'd seen red eyes before, on Second Lieutenant Hawkeye and the man at the library, but not this particular shade. They were almost a blood red. It was eerie.

"Can I help you up?" he asked.

She nodded and grasped his hand. With his help, she was soon back on her feet…again.

The young woman didn't have to tilt her head down too far to look at the boy because she was only about 5 inches taller than him.

"I'm Edward Elric, the 'Fullmetal' Alchemist and this is my brother Al," Edward said.

"Hello," the suit of armour, Al, spoke politely.

"Ah!" she shrieked and jumped back a bit out of shock of hearing the armour speak. She recovered quickly.

"Fullmetal? Fullmetal?" she mumbled thoughtfully "That's right! Edward Elric, the 'Fullmetal' Alchemist, Age: 12, Height: 4'11", youngest ever to pass the State Alchemist Qualification Exam. You were involved in the 'Barry the Chopper' incident a few weeks ago."

"Uh…yeah," Ed replied, twitching angrily from having his height announced.

"Um? If you don't mind my asking, what's your name?" Al asked, changing the topic.

"Oh, I'm –"

At that exact moment a large truck drove by and honked its horn muting her response to everyone but Ed and Al.

"That's an unusual name," Ed stated.

"I know," she replied.

She breathed in deeply and caught the scent of something interesting wafting off of the two boys. She sniffed a few times, her face showing her puzzlement.

Ed and Al figured out what she was doing after a few moments of confusion.

"Not a word about the perfume," Ed growled, gritting his teeth. He'd gotten away from the Lieutenant Colonel unscathed, somehow, due to the fact that the man was distracted by something big.

"I was just going to ask why you smell like really sweet flowers," she said "It almost smells like you showered in Tutti Fruity Flower Passion. Both of you," she coughed. The smell was sickly sweet. (1)

"Yeah, I know," Ed said, annoyed, as he rubbed the back of his head. "We were getting some help from some of the female personnel to mask the leftover smell of a backfired stink bomb prank." He sighed "Second Lieutenant Hawkeye said that this was probably the only stuff that would work because it's so strong that even a woman who hasn't bathed in a month smells good with this crap on. I've been trying to find her to thank her for her help."

The young woman gasped.

"I have to run. I've gotta catch up with Lieutenant Colonel Mustang," she said hurriedly.

"Bastard," Ed muttered, clearly meaning Mustang.

"It was nice talking with you. I have to go now though. I have to deliver some important information to the Lieutenant Colonel," she turned and grasped the door handle. She opened the door and started to walk in. She stopped just inside the door, confusing the two boys. "I wouldn't worry about your height. My little brother was the same height as you when he was your age. Now he's 20 and 6'3"."

She walked away without waiting for any kind of response. The door closed behind her.

The two boys watched as she took off running again once she was across the foyer and out of sight of the receptionist. She even looked around to make sure no one was watching.

Before thy walked away, Ed noticed two black chopsticks on the ground. He picked them up and showed them to Al.

"Don't these belong to…?"

-----------

She bolted down the halls as fast as she could.

Finally, she rounded a corner and spotted Mustang.

"Lieutenant Colonel Mustang!" she shouted "Sir!"

This time he heard her, stopped and turned around and saw her running towards him, slowing as she neared. She finally stopped right in front of him and bent over with her hands on her knees, catching her breath.

"What's wrong…" Mustang looked at the woman's epaulettes "…Corporal?"

-----------

Just around the corner, Ed and Al were standing, listening. Ed had the Corporal's chopsticks in his right hand.

The two boys stayed silent and listened intently to the conversation going on just around the corner.

-----------

She stood up straight after catching her breath. She still looked a little flushed though. This was accentuated by her hair and eyes.

"I have important information for you, sir. And you alone."

"What does it regard?" he asked seriously.

"It regards the disappearance of Second Lieutenant Hawkeye," she told him, equally as serious.

Neither of their faces betrayed a single emotion.

-----------

Ed and Al were shocked to hear that Hawkeye was missing. Why hadn't they been informed? They too worked with her.

Ed's automail right hand clenched into a tight fist. He was angry about not being told and worried for the life of a fellow soldier, a friend.

It brought back the memory of the woman in the alley. He hoped she didn't turn up like that.

Suddenly, he stopped and relaxed his automail hand when he remembered what he was holding. He looked over at the chopsticks, fearing that they were broken.

They weren't. They were fully intact. They should've been crushed.

What were these things made of?

-----------

Roy masked his shock.

"What's your name, Corporal?" he requested of the woman.

She looked into his obsidian eyes with her ruby red ones and said "Tarot. Corporal Tari Tarot." (2)

* * *

1 Tutti Fruity Flower Passion – I made the name up on the spot. I needed a name for a perfume that sounded really sweet, sickly sweet. Thus, the name. 

2 Tari is pronounced Tar-ee

Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Find our what the information is in Chapter 7 of Every Dog.

**Next chapter:** The Discouraging Clue

Title of the next chappy may change when I type it up. Who knows.

R&R!

E.T.


	8. The Discouraging Clue

Hello all my loyal readers! I'm back! I know it hasn't been that long but...yeah.

**Disclaimer:** Not mine. I only own the five OC's that I've so far written into this fic, the plot of this story and volumes 3 and 5 of the Manga.

In regard to the OC's, thus far only 4 of them have made an appearance but the fifth will be making her debut in chapter 10. So stay with me.

Updates are going to slow down from this point on because I haven't got any more chapters typed up after this one. I had to speed type this one so don't blame me if their are any mistakes. I don't have a beta for this story.

Thanks to my reviewers: **Simply Crisis, Steff7, Fullmetalfan, Anicka, bohemianwriterredroses, loyalsoul, Dailenna, Chachamaru15, FruitsBasketFreak44, dingi, kenzigirl, theslayerslayer, horsehearted15, words without **and**Jessia.**

**Simply Crisis:** Sorry about misspelling your name last chappy. I was sort of out of it and misread it. Sorry.

**Attention all reviewers:** I know I usually give out cookies and muffins here but, uh, you guys kinda ate them all and I'm currently waiting on the new order to arrive. Cupcakes will be coming with this batch, as well as mini Royai signs (instead of mini flags) that I will happily give out to any reviewer who requests one. They should be here by next chapter. They are for Royai fans so that the Royai sign can be worshipped from home instead of having to travel many miles to visit it. XP

Please enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 8 

**The Discouraging Clue**

"Why weren't we told!" Ed ground out as he stepped around the corner and into the hall. His fists were clenched at his sides.

Tari whirled around and looked at Ed. Mustang looked over at him. As did Havoc who was with Mustang.

"Brother!" Al exclaimed as he came around the corner behind Ed.

Ed stalked towards Mustang. He hated being left in the dark. He stopped in front of the Lieutenant Colonel and glared at him viciously. "Why weren't we told that Lieutenant Hawkeye is missing!"

"Brother!" Al called out as he moved after Ed and stopped behind him. He stood next to Tari who had stepped out of Ed's way.

"Fullmetal," Mustang addressed the fuming boy "You weren't told _yet_" he stressed the word 'yet' "because we only found out two hours ago. Besides," he spoke in an almost sing-song voice "Trying to find such a _small_ person in this _large_ base is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. A very _small_ needle."

"WHO'RE YOU CALLIN' SO SMALL THAT IF HE WAS ONE OF THOSE THINGS YOU HAVE TO THROW A BALL AT TO KNOCK OVER AT THE CARNIVAL HE'D BE THE REALLY SMALL ONE THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO HIT!" Ed fumed, throwing a fit and only being restrained by his brother, Al.

Dwut dwut – everyone blinked.

"That was…" Mustang muttered.

"Unusual?" Tari continued, stunned.

"I was gonna say 'long'," Mustang informed her.

"Oh, that's right!" Al said to Tari as he continued to restrain a furious, kicking Ed. "You've never seen one of Brother's rants before have you?"

"Uh uh," she said as she shook her head.

Suddenly, Ed calmed and returned to normal. Al let him go, cautiously.

"Aren't these yours?" Ed asked, turning to Tari and extending his right hand, Tari's chopsticks resting intact in his palm.

"Ah!" she reached up and touched her loose hair "I completely forgot that they'd fallen out. Thank you." She took the proffered chopsticks. She inspected them.

"What're they made of? They're longer and thicker than normal hair chopsticks," Ed stated.

"Mmm, they have to be. They're concealed daggers," she twisted the top of one slightly and pulled on it. A dagger slid out. The hilt was the top of the chopstick and the rest of the chopstick was the sheath. "See."

The silver blade was about 25cm long and 2cm wide. It was shiny and obviously well cared for, despite the small dark stain about midway along the blade.

Everyone in the hall flinched back a bit at the sight of the blade.

"Wow," Ed said as he walked forward to look at the dagger.

Tari shoved the blade quickly into its sheath with a small 'snap', causing Ed to jump back in surprise. She didn't want Ed to get a proper look at the stain. Ed backed up a few steps.

Tari placed the chopsticks between her teeth, reached her hands back and grasped her hair. With practiced ease she twisted her hair back into a bun and held it against the back of her head. Her hair wasn't thick but it wasn't thin. It wasn't straight but it wasn't curly. Her hair had a medium thickness and several kinks in it.

She pulled one chopstick from her teeth and pushed it through her bun, which covered most of the back of her head. Then she grabbed the other one and put it through too. Cautiously, she took her hands away and was pleased when her bun stayed put.

"Uh…Corporal?" Mustang said, clearing his throat. Everyone turned to him "About the information?"

"Oh right," she turned to Mustang and saluted. Mustang saluted back and they dropped the salutes "I have been instructed by General Hakuro to deliver important, confidential information to you. I am only to tell you this in your office, so if we could please proceed…?"

"Of course," Mustang nodded, turned around and continued to his office with Ed, Al, Havoc and Tari following close behind.

Eventually they were in Mustang's office with Mustang seated behind his desk and the others standing around the room in front of his desk. Tari was directly in front.

"Well, we're here. So what's the information?" Mustang requested.

She stiffened. "I'm sorry, sir. I was instructed to tell you and only you."

"These are my most trusted. Anything you tell me you can tell them," he said.

She shook her head. "I cannot."

"Ugh, fine. Fullmetal, Alphonse, Second Lieutenant Havoc? Go wait outside."

"Okay," came three reluctant replies as they left the room.

Havoc went and sat at his desk and kicked his feet up onto the desk. Ed sat down at Lieutenant Hawkeye's desk and Al leaned against one of the other, empty, desks. Apparently it was lunch time.

"Wonder what information they've got," Havoc spoke around his ever present cigarette "Maybe they know where she's at. Maybe they found her." He said hopefully.

"I--," Ed began only to be cut off by a loud exclamation.

"What!"

Loud footsteps echoed out to them from Mustang's office.

"Aah!" came a female shriek.

"Show me!" Mustang's voice demanded.

A few seconds passed with seemingly complete and utter silence. Then footsteps thumped across the floor and the doors to Mustang's office flew open and startled Ed, Al and Havoc.

Mustang came flying out of the doors dragging Tari along by the arm.

The two were out into the hall before any of them could blink.

"Let's go!" Havoc called.

The three guys ran out of the office and chased after the Colonel and the Corporal. They could hear the young woman trying to calm Roy.

A few minutes later the three guys caught up to Roy and Tari in the courtyard. They walked over to them.

"Are you two okay?" Havoc asked, trying hard not to laugh at their position.

Ed was trying hard not to laugh and in the process made himself look deranged. More so. Al was trying hard to suppress his laughter.

"Sort of," they mumbled into the ground.

It was obvious that Tari had tripped and taken Roy down with her.

Tari pulled herself off of the ground and sat up.

"I'm okay. I do this several times a day," she said with a smile. Then she looked at Mustang "I don't know about him though."

Tari grasped the back of Mustang's collar and peeled him off of the ground. He coughed out dirt and rocks.

"Colonel, we need to… Colonel?" she snapped her fingers in front of his face.

He snapped out of it. "Oh, right! Let's go!"

They climbed to their feet and all five of them took off running with Tari in the lead and Al clanking along at the rear.

When they got to the parade grounds, Tari slowed slightly and was looking around for someone.

"Ah! There they are!" Tari shouted "Wait here!" With that she took off towards a group of people on the grounds.

Mustang, Havoc, Ed and Al stopped and watched her. They saw her salute the group and speak to them. She bowed, said something and then grabbed the hands of two men. She started pulling them back to the group.

"Tari," the red-haired one whined "Where are we going?"

"Just follow," she instructed "Come on, let's go." She said to everyone and then took off running again.

They all followed.

"Hi," the red-haired one said "I'm Sergeant Martin Green. Nice to meet ya!"

"I'm Sergeant Major Mark Halaway," the brown-haired one introduced himself.

By the time they were past the warehouses, everyone knew who everyone was and what divisions they worked in. It turned out that Tari, Martin and Mark all worked in a branch of the Investigation's department that specialised in kidnappings and disappearances.

The group of seven slowed to a stop in front a waiting General Hakuro. The five officers in the group saluted.

"What took you so long, Corporal Tarot?" Hakuro asked. He waved off the salutes and they dropped them.

"Sorry, sir. I ran into some…delays," she replied.

"Ugh, spare me," Hakuro sighed "Mustang, follow me."

Mustang walked alongside Hakuro, everyone else following behind. They walked over to something shiny on the ground.

Mustang's eyes widened when he saw what the object was.

He pulled on a pair of gloves and bent down. He grasped the handle and supported it with his other hand.

In his hands he held a meat cleaver. On the side he was looking at, it had his name written in blood. It said 'MUSTANG'.

He flipped it over. Another name was written on the other side. It, however, was crossed out. It too was written and crossed out in blood.

His eyes widened. 'No,' he thought 'It can't be…'

Hakuro saw it too. Everyone saw it. Everyone was shocked and worried.

The blood writing that was crossed out read 'HAWKEYE'.

Roy thought for a moment and then…

"General! Contact the prison! Tell them to see if…"

* * *

Oooo, what's gonna happen? Sorry for all the cliffhangers. I didn't originally intend for there to be so many but they just sorta wrote themselves into my story. 

Anyway, next chapter will be the one with the big revelation in it. I finally reveal who the mysterious man is.

**Preview of next chapter:**

Man: I'm gonna make him watch as I kill you. I'm gonna make him watch as your blood spills all over the floor. I'm gonna make him watch as I destroy your life like the two of you destroyed mine.

R&R!

Yours truly,

E.T.


	9. His Reason, Her Prayer

A/N: Last chappy: Ed's short rant was actually dreamt up (literally) by my friend Maija. She gave it to me for the purpose of this fic. And don't worry there is at least one more rant in this fic, and some else shares it with him. You'll never guess who.

Title: The title of this fic wasn't thought up by me. I got the title, again, from Maija. The title will also come up in the fic. It will be spoken by both the man (later chapter) and Riza (last chapter). This story will probably have just under 25 chapters. Maybe more, I don't know. I've almost finished writing the story sadly. I'm writing it out in a book and then typing it up. I've just written the part where the storm begins (both literally and figuratively). You'll understand when I reach about Chapter 15 or so.

Hello! I'm back!

Thanks to my reviewers: **bohemianwriterredroses, Simply Crisis, FruitsBasketFreak44, loyalsoul, Steff7, Fullmetalfan, Anicka, Dailenna, Chachamaru15, dingi, kenzigirl, theslayerslayer, horsehearted15, words without **and**Jessia.**

The cookies have arrived. So, COOKIES, MUFFINS AND CUPCAKES FOR ALL!

No one wanted a mini Royai sign._ twirls stick of a mini Royai sign between fingers while standing among many boxes full of them and leaning on a stand_ Why? Why doesn't anyone want my Royai signs?

BTW, if you don't know about the almighty Royai sign, read my story 'Rain Drop Reflections'. It comes up in the Author's notes at the end.

Anyways...

ENJOY!

* * *

Chapter 9

**His Reason, Her Prayer**

Her amber eyes opened. She groaned. Her body ached but at the same time it felt numb.

One by one, she pulled her feet under herself and stood. She impressed herself by accomplishing that small feat as her mind was so groggy.

"I was wondering when you'd wake," a voice colder than the room itself spoke from somewhere in the darkness.

It was then that she sensed another presence in the room. Her eyes darted around, looking for the owner of the voice. She saw a shadow move and spotted him.

He grinned maliciously at her as he stepped closer and closer until he was right next to her. In his hands he held a black box. A fairly large, black box.

"Heh heh. I've had you here for 9 hours now. Most of which you've been unconscious for, but no matter. It just means that I've had the time to leave a present for Mustang which I know he found about 6 hours ago. I watched all of their faces as they figured it out. They looked horrified. Especially that Lieutenant Colonel of yours," the man laughed manically.

"W-why are you doing this?" Riza asked her captor.

"I told you, my dear, for revenge," he replied as he set the box down on the table behind him. He turned around and walked over to stand in front of her. He grasped her chin and tilted her head up to look directly into his cruel eyes. When he grabbed her chin she tried to back away but he held her firmly. He trailed a finger down the side of her face as he spoke. "I'm gonna make him watch as I kill you. I'm gonna make him watch as your blood spills all over the floor. I'm gonna make him watch as I destroy your life, like the two of you destroyed mine," he released her forcefully, causing her to stumble. This time she caught herself. He went to the table and picked a small knife up. He turned back around and stared into her pain- and hate-filled eyes. "Then I'm gonna kill him." He threw the knife and it lodged itself in her arm. She gritted her teeth. She refused to give him the satisfaction of her screaming.

He walked over to her and grasped the knife handle.

"Then I'm gonna mail both of you back to the military, _piece_ _by_ _piece_," he spoke cruelly. He pulled down on the knife, which had pierced all the way through her arm at about the middle of her forearm.

"Ahhahhhhahhh!" a scream ripped from her throat before she could stop it.

He grinned even wider and released the knife. He then went back to his table.

She did not have the good fortune to pass out this time. Her head fell forward as she panted, almost gasping for breath. That had hurt, a lot. It didn't help that the knife was still in her arm either. At this point, she was amazed to realise that she was still on her feet. How, she did not know.

"I've been waiting for you to wake up so that I could show you my latest acquisition," he said as the sound of latches unhooking rang throughout the room.

She looked up at him as he spoke. She watched as he pulled a very large knife from the box. The shiny silver blade glinted in the small, dim amount of light coming from a lamp that hung above the table. She could see intricate designs carved into the metal and the handle was made from a shiny onyx metal material.

"I saw it and thought that it would be perfect," he said as he admired the blade, his back still to her "Perfect for chopping up someone as beautiful and delicate, yet strong, as you. It's also perfect for Mustang. It's masculine yet feminine all at once," he turned to her and held the blade out "Just perfect. Don't ya think?" he walked closer to her.

She glared and spat in his face. It got him in the eyes.

"Ha," she smirked, her breath coming out in a puff of cold steam.

He laughed slightly and wiped the spit from his face with the sleeve of his long-sleeved shirt.

"Did you forget about this?" he asked as he reached up and twisted the knife in her arm 90 degrees.

"Nngahhhng!" she cried. Her body slumped and she was no longer standing. She could feel the warm blood pouring out of the wound and out onto her arm. It soaked through her jacket sleeve too. The blood stained even more of her uniform purple.

He set his new knife back in its box and closed it. He grabbed a large kitchen knife and walked behind Riza.

"I'll be taking these too," he told her.

He grabbed the collar of her uniform, put the knife behind it with the sharp edge facing him and sliced down the back of her jacket. He then went around to the front of her and unbuttoned the jacket. Each half hung limply from her body. He then cut a large tuft of her hair off and removed her holster.

He went back to the table and set the knife, hair and holster down before walking back over to her left side, the side closest to the table. He grabbed the left half of her uniform and pulled it hard. Hard enough to rip it off of her arm, the only thing holding it on. Hard enough to rip the knife in her arm out and allow it to clatter to the floor slide somewhere unknown.

Another scream tore itself from her throat and she went limp again. Blood seeped heavily down her arm.

The man collected the three items he had removed from her and moved across the room to the door, leaving her hanging by her wrists from chains in nothing but her uniform bottoms, her boots, her brown short-sleeved turtleneck top and half of what used to be her uniform jacket.

"I'll leave you to get some rest," he said. Then he flicked the light switch near the door off and left.

Riza was now alone in the freezing room in total darkness. There was a small window, but stars were visible through it, confirming her theory that it was now night.

Tears began to stream down her face, some freezing to her icy skin.

With her head bowed forward she prayed. "Please Roy. Please come soon. I need you to save me…to save me from…Barry the Chopper…" her voice faded out as she lost the fight to stay conscious once more.

* * *

A/N: AAAHHHHH! _ducks flaming cattle skulls, rotten fruit and other objects being thrown_ I'M SORRY! THIS IS A VITAL PART OF THE STORY! 

I apologize once more for the cliff-hangers! Honestly, I didn't mean to write in so many, but…uh…you might wanna get used to them. They're kinda at the end of every single chapter. _shrieks and hides from angry fans_ SORRY! _offers box of cookies as peace offering_ They're yours if you don't kill me or harm me in any way! At least until I finish writing and posting this story!

Fifth and, I think, final OC makes her first appearance next chapter.

Next Chapter: **A Disturbing Package**

**Preview:**

Private – Um, a woman in a green dress with brown hair came into the building and asked if I could deliver this to you, sir. She handed it to me and walked off before I could ask anything about it.

Roy – And you brought it here! It could be dangerous!

Private – But it's soft, sir. It feels like cloth.

_in booming TV voiceover guy voice like heard in old shows_ Tune in again in the next few days for Chapter 10 of …**_Every Dog Has Its Day_**.

Yours truly,

E.T.


	10. A Disturbing Package

Hello everyone! I'm back! Mum was running that program again for about 2 days straight, so I haven't been able to even _touch_ the computer. Though I must say I was pleasantly surprised when I opened my mail box this morning and found 9 reviews waiting to be read.

**Disclaimer:** NOT MINE!

I've had over 2,000 hits! Yay!_ does happy dance_ And I've had 59 reviews so far!_ does another happy dance_

I'm sooooo _happeh_!

Thanks to my reviewers! You know who you are! There are getting to be so many of you that it takes about 5 or 10 minutes just to type out all of your names. But I will anyway!

Thanks: **Dailenna, lilangelzdevil, theslayerslayer, Simply Crisis, bohemianwriterredroses, words without, MishyFishy and Fesma, Steff7, Anicka, Fullmetalfan, FruitsBasketFreak44 **and**loyalsoul.**

If I've left you off the list and you know you've reviewed, it's because you've only reviewed **once **on an earlier chapter and you haven't reviewed since.

**All reviewers: **Sweets for all!

Now, I've got a few responses to reviews for the last chapter.

**lilangelzdevil:** Of course there are gonna be more chapters. I wouldn't be cruel and end it there... or would I...?

**theslayerslayer:** Here ya go! _gives a Royai sign_

**Simply Crisis: **I'm glad you wanted a Royai sign. Um, please don't throw the boulder. It's not my fault I can't update quickly. School starts again tomorrow and Mum keeps running that damn program. Don't hurt me! If you do you'll never find out what happens! _cowers in fear_

**bohemianwriterredroses:** Ack! Take it easy on them! They go in soon! I promise!

**words without:** I realise that that line is OOC now, but please note that any OOCness can probably be blamed on the fact that it's usually very late at night when I write. It's the only time I've got any real spare time to sit (or lay) down and write. Also, please keep in mind that she's lost a lot of blood, is in extreme pain, has a concussion, isn't thinking properly and she's probably thinking that in a competition between an alchemist and a butcher, that the alchemist (especially Flame) would win. And also, would _you _wanna be left there hanging by your wrists in a freezer,with a man you know could kill you at any given moment in the next room over?

**Steff7:** Don't worry, he will.

**Anicka: **I take you've had a knife through your arm before?

* * *

Chapter 10 

**A Disturbing Package**

"It's been confirmed, Roy," Maes said from his position on one of the couches in Roy's office "Barry the Chopper has escaped. He was officially listed as an escaped criminal 20 minutes ago."

"Dammit," Roy cursed from his seat at his desk. He looked at the meat cleaver sitting on his desk. He carefully picked it up and looked at the side with Hawkeye's crossed out name on it. He turned it so the Maes could see it "What do you make of this?"

"Nothing good," he replied honestly.

Maes opened his mouth to keep speaking but was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Enter," Roy called.

The door opened and a woman with greyish-black hair that was pulled back in a small bun entered. She had bright blue eyes. She wore the female (skirt) uniform and bore no rank on her shoulders. She was carrying a small package.

"Yes, Private?" Roy said.

"Um, a woman in a green dress with brown hair came into the building and asked if I could deliver this to you, sir. She handed it to me and walked off before I could ask her anything about it," she said.

"And you brought it here! It could be dangerous!" Roy yelled.

"But, it's soft, sir. It feels like cloth," she said timidly.

"Wha…? Bring it here."

The young woman walked over to Roy's desk with her eyes downcast. She handed the package to him with shaky hands.

"There's no need to be frightened. I didn't mean to yell… I'm just on edge," he sighed and looked the young woman in the eyes "Please have a seat, Private."

She seemed to calm at his words, nodded and took a seat.

Maes and the woman watched as Roy untied the string that held the package shut. Once the string was off he peeled the paper away.

"Maes? Private?" the two stood up and walked up to Roy's desk and looked at the contents of the package. "Does this look like the jacket we're all wearing to you?"

"It does," the Private answered.

Roy picked the blue fabric up. As it tumbled open, two items fell out. None of them noticed. They were too busy staring at the colour of most of the jacket.

"It's only half of the jacket," Maes said. It was true. It was only the left half of the jacket.

"Why are these parts purple?" the woman wondered as she reached forward and touched the sleeve near the hole that was in it. When she felt something wet, she pulled her hand away quickly. Everyone looked at her fingers. "Red?" she looked at the two men "Blood?" she looked at the desk "Hey, what're those?"

The two men looked down at the desk as well.

Roy dropped the jacket-half onto the desk. He picked up the two items. A holster and a piece of blond hair with a rubber band tied around it.

"Maes, these are Hawkeye's. All of these are Hawkeye's!"

Maes grabbed the holster and looked at it. The initials 'RH' were written on it. He dropped the holster and grabbed the jacket, being careful to avoid the purple patches which they now knew were blood. He looked at the shoulder. There was a split in the fabric between the epaulette and the collar. He looked to the epaulette. It showed the rank of Second Lieutenant. He dropped the jacket back onto the desk. He looked at the tuft of hair in his friend's hand. There was no doubt that this stuff belonged to Lieutenant Hawkeye.

Roy dropped the hair and buried his face in his hands.

"Dammit!" he growled.

"Uh, Private?" Maes said. He led the woman across the room to stand next to the door. "What's your name?"

"Lita Cortez, sir," she replied.

"Ok, Private Cortez. I need you to go get six people for me."

"Yes, sir," she pulled out a pen and notebook "Who?"

Maes listed the names to the woman and sent her on her way with instructions to come back with them.

"Roy?" Maes sighed "Roy?" he walked towards Roy's desk. "Are you okay?"

"Do I look okay, Maes?" Roy replied and laughed sardonically as he looked at Maes. His eyes were red, bloodshot and watery.

"Roy? I--"

"No, Maes, let me talk."

Maes nodded and sat down on the couch again.

"She's important to me. I don't think I could keep going without her. She's been by my side for so long. I've known her even longer. I think she's the only reason I'm even _alive_ right now. I've made so many stupid mistakes that should've killed me, but she saved me. Heck, she's even stopped me from killing myself or drinking myself to death. I won't be able to survive very long without her." Roy's head dipped down and a few tears escaped.

Maes sighed. "Hey, Roy?"

"What?" he replied without looking up.

"Look on the brightside--," he was cut off before he could finish.

"'Brightside'! What brightside!" Roy yelled jumping to his feet, tears of pain and anger streaming from his eyes.

Maes stayed seated, but looked into Roy's eyes with a seriousness that was rarely ever there.

"The blood was fresh. That means she's still alive. Also, everything is cold, or it was. That means that she's being kept somewhere really cold. Probably a meat freezer."

Before Roy could reply, the door to his office opened and revealed seven people. At the lead was the white-haired, red-eyed Corporal, Tari Tarot. Behind her was Sergeant Green, Sergeant Major Halaway, Edward and Alphonse Elric, Second Lieutenant Havoc and Private Cortez.

"You called for us?" Tari said.

* * *

Um, please don't hurt me? 

Anyway, next chapter goes back to check on Riza after her first night captive.

**Next Chapter:** hasn't got a title yet. o.O Still need to make one up.

**Preview:**

Barry - Did you sleep well?

Riza - I would've slept better if I wasn't chained up, hanging from a meat hook in a meat freezer with a huge hole in my arm, a sliced open shoulder, a headache the size of the military wearing nothing but pants, boots, a T-shirt and half a jacket.

R&R!

'Till next time!

Sincerely,

E.T.


	11. Merciless

Hello all! Sorry it's taken me a while to update. School re-started this week and I've been busy with overdue projects and homework as well as catching up with friends. That and I've been kinda nervous to type this chapter up in case mum goes snooping in my documents. Oh well, it's a risk I'll have to take for my loyal fans.

Anyway, a bit of a funny story to kick things off. Yesterday was Friday for me and therefore the last day of the school week. Of course that detail is completely irrelevant to my story. Our bag racks get really _really_ crowded at the beginning of lunch time and the only way to get in is to shove your way through or wait for the crowd to disperse (which can take upwards of 5 minutes). So anyway, I shoved through the crowd trying to get to my bag and I guess I bumped into one of those girls that think they're better than me (Me and my friends are the outcasts and we love it). She pushed me, pretty hard mind you, and said something that I didn't catch. When I stopped I looked around and I was practically right next to my bag, so I didn't mind that she'd pushed me. I got my stuff and was leaving the bag racks. I walked past her and she pushed me again. So I stopped turned around and said "By the way, when you pushed me I actually ended up next to my bag so, thanks." and then proceeded to walk next to my bestie who had waited outside the bag racks as she already had her things. As we were leaving the girl and her friends walked up behind us. The girl pushed me again, and in response, I swung around and kicked her in the shin, **once**. I then turned and started to walk off. The girl came after me and my friend and looked like she wanted to start a fight. She said "You kicked me!" and my friend spoke before I could "You pushed her!" Then some other things were said that I don't remember and the girl backed off. I think it partially has to do with the fact that my best friend, if you don't know her, is probably the most intimidating person in our grade. But, hey, it was my right to kick her, she started it. And she knew it, so she didn't tell any teachers. She knew that the teachers were more likely to believe me because I don't get violent unless someone is violent towards me or my friends first. I'm a bit of a goody-goody.

Um, yeah...enough of my rambling.

Cookies for all my reviewers!

**Disclaimer:**FMA ISNOT MINE! Wish it was, but it ain't! Also, Stargate isn't mine either.

**Warnings:** Sexual situations (non-consensual), Violence, graphic description of injuries

Please take the time to read this chapter thoroughly and carefully. While you're doing that, I going to run and hide.

ENJOY!

* * *

Chapter 11 

**Merciless**

The next time she awakened the first thing she did was look towards the small window. Morning light streamed through it and lit the room well. It was still dim and a bit dark inside, but it was still the best lighting there'd been so far.

She attempted to use her wrists to pull herself onto her feet. It didn't work. She looked up at her arms. Her right one had no visible injuries but it was impossible to tell with the right half of her jacket covering her arm and shoulder up to her wrist. Her left arm was in much worse condition. There was a gaping hole in her forearm from where the knife had been. Some of the flesh hung in shreds from the wound where it had been torn. The small amount of clean skin that she could see was pale and contained no colour. Her hand was limp and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't move the fingers or the hand. To her, it felt like a large, heavy piece of rubber. Her entire arm was a dead weight.

Most of her arm was soaked in her own blood. It had trickled and flooded from the wound and down her arm onto her shoulder. It had dried and frozen to her arm and felt horribly unpleasant. It seemed to add more weight to the already useless and completely numb arm.

The wound looked dreadful and horribly sickening. She put her feet under herself and stood once more. She looked closely at the hole. Through it she could see a small piece of bone. She could see the muscle tissue and the meat surrounding it. She gagged and almost threw up when she discovered that she could see all the way through her own arm through the hole that Barry had created. She counted herself lucky that the knife had completely missed the bone and only pierced the flesh. Ice crystals were visible inside and throughout the wound.

She shivered and looked around the room. She noticed for the first time that she was alone. She was the only living being in the room, for the time being anyway. She looked at the table. Every thing was still there. All of the knives were sitting on the table in neat rows. The black box sat in the middle of the table, closed and latched shut.

She sighed and her stomach growled hungrily. She was starving.

After 15 minutes, the door opened and Barry entered. He was wearing the typical clothes of a butcher. Short-sleeved shirt, long pants, solid closed shoes and a white apron.

Riza glared at him as he walked over and leaned against the table.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked.

"I would've slept better if I wasn't chained up, hanging from a meat hook in a meat freezer with a huge hole in my arm, a sliced open shoulder, a headache the size of the military wearing nothing but pants, boots, a t-shirt and half a jacket," she retorted smartly.

He grinned and moved to stand in front of Riza. He grasped her chin and forced her to look into his eyes.

"You're a feisty one, aren't ya?" he said. He moved his hand from her chin.

Riza gasped when he began to touch her breasts. He cupped them in his hands and kneaded the gently. He played with them through the fabric of her shirt. He began to move his hands down her sides, running them along her hips and stomach, following her delicate curves. He moved his hands around behind her and cupped her ass. He ran his hands over it, feeling its firmness and shape. Finally, he brought his hands around to the front and touched her inner thighs. He ran them up them until his hands and finger touched forbidden territory.

When she got over the initial shock of him touching her, she swiftly brought a knee up and kneed Barry in the groin.

"Ahh!" he cried out in pain and quickly backed away, cupping his crotch. He doubled over in pain and Riza smirked proudly.

A few minutes later, he recovered and got up and stormed over to her. He hit her across the face with a closed fist.

When he hit her, Riza accidentally bit her lip and tongue causing them to bleed. Blood seeped across her lips and onto her chin, mixing with spit.

Barry looked pleased at the blood coming from her mouth. He chuckled evilly. "Blood."

Riza spat the mixture of blood and spit from her mouth but it was quickly replaced by more. The blood stained her teeth slightly as it seeped between them.

"I wonder what you taste like," Barry said before moving quickly forward and capturing her lips in a brutal kiss.

'Brutal' was the only way to describe the kiss. She tried to pull away but he put a hand behind her head and held it in place. He reached his other arm behind her back and held her body to his, close enough that she couldn't hit him again. After a few seconds, he forced his tongue into her mouth. Her scream at this was muffled by his mouth. His tongue roamed all around her mouth, tasting her blood, licking it off of her tongue an lips.

Finally, he broke the kiss, released her and backed up. Riza gasped for breath, her eyes wide in shock, terror and revulsion. More blood seeped from the cuts on her tongue and swelling lower lip.

He took a few steps towards her and his footsteps echoed throughout the room. Riza looked up at him.

"Hmm," he said with Riza's blood all over his lips and on his chin "Nice and sweet. Not bad," he licked his lips to emphasise his point. He wiped the remaining blood off with his hand and stepped right in front of her again. He licked some of the blood off of his palm "Not bad at all."

He wiped the rest of the blood onto the left side of her face and down her neck. She closed her left eye as he did this so as not to get her own blood and spit, plus his spit, in her eye. She opened it again when he walked away.

She watched him as he lifted a knife off of the table, turned around and leaned against said table. He focused on the medium-sized kitchen knife in his hand and fingered it.

"Y'know, something I've just realised," he spoke, never once looking away from the knife "I haven't done a single thing to your right side, or your legs for that matter." He walked across to her and stood behind her and to her right "I know for a fact that this is the leg you hit me with," he patted her right leg "So I think I'll do this" he lowered the knife to the front of her leg just above the knee and slowly began to push it into the flesh "to get my revenge for that."

After he initially pierced through the skin, he slowed down even more. It was torturous. The pain was blinding. She gritted her teeth and scrunched up her eyes in agony. This was madness. Why couldn't he just push the damn thing through? It would hurt less.

Warm blood spilled out as he _slowly_, _agonizingly_ pushed the blade through her leg. It soaked through her pants and spilled down her leg. She thought that this must be what it felt like to have a bullet shot very slowly through a leg. She would rather shoot herself in the knee than have to endure this. It would hurt less and be over much quicker.

Finally, the tip of the knife hit the bone. She screamed so loudly and shrilly that she thought the entire of Amestris must have heard. It felt like white hot needles were being pushed into her leg. He scraped the tip on the knife across the bone slowly, causing the white hot needles to be replaced by white hot pokers and making her scream even more. He changed the angle of the blade so that he could go around the bone and the pain intensified 100-fold and caused spots of light and darkness to dance across her vision.

She started to go limp and he gave her mercy and pushed the knife the rest of the way through quickly. At this her head snapped up and she screamed again. Her head fell again and she panted heavily. As she slumped, she realised that one of Barry's arms was wrapped firmly around her waist preventing her from falling prematurely.

He released his hold on her and walked away, leaving the knife planted in her leg. The handle was sticking out of the front of her leg and some of the blade was sticking out the back. Both ends dripped blood. Her pant leg was quickly turning a reddy-purple and her right boot was gaining a red sheen.

"I hope that'll teach you a lesson," he said. He then exited the room once more, leaving her hanging by her wrists and quickly becoming soaked in her own blood.

Riza hung there limply and unfortunately conscious. She had not had the good fortune to pass out this time and nor would she. She was forced to hang there and stare down at the knife embedded in her leg. The blood he'd smeared on her face was already dry and the new wound on her leg would freeze soon and stop bleeding. She had no doubt that her leg would be numb in a few hours.

As she hung there gasping for breath, she prayed that she would be rescued soon. Until then, she just had to hang there, mercilessly conscious.

* * *

_Angry mob sporting pitch forks, torches and many other things meant to cause pain bursts into E.T.'s house. It is empty save for her pets. Angry mob notices that computer is on. They walk over to it. Microsoft word is open and a small note has been written. Angry mob reads_

The note reads:

**While you were busy reading, I was busy escaping. I am currently on a tropical paradise planet far, far away by means of the Stargate which I briefly comandeered from the nice people of the SGC. Anyway, I'll still be able to update as I have a computer with me. I will only return to earth for school and after the angry mob, which I'm sure is reading this, cools down.**

**Also, please not that if you hurt me too bad, I won't be able to update.**

**Yours scaredly,**

**E.T.**

_Angry mob grumbles in disappointment and sits down to wait for a school day. Unfortunately for them, E.T.'s mother comes out from the back room and scares them all away._


	12. What should've been obvious

Hello all! I'm back! I am soooooo sorry that it's taken me like, two weeks to update. I've been really busy and haven't had much spare time. That and I was a little dicouraged by a few comments.

BTW, feel free to throw the book at me. Justknow boulders!Or anything heavier that 10kg! You know who you are!

The title will make sense at the end of the chappy.

For: **Lili **and **momiji-k**

Ok, I know I've already responded to you momiji-k, but there are some new details that I worked out _after_ I sent that reply. Anyway, this is going somewhere, but I can't tell you right now without giving away future chapters. But I **_promise _**that I am going somewhere with a few of the little things you've picked up. Oh, and Lili, I didn't even metion Winry. She's not going to be involved in this story at all. I've almost finished writing it. It is possible to survive for that long in the cold and bleeding. And as I said before, I can't tell you anything because it will give away future chapters. I am going somewhere with it! Don't worry about that! It gets mentioned towards the end! I promise you that everything will (or should) make sense by the end of this story.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own it! If I did I wouldn't have to share a computer with my mother or borrow money from her anytime I want something.

* * *

Chapter 12

**What should've been obvious**

"We've checked them all, Chief," Havoc said "She wasn't at any of them. Heck, we even checked the one here on base just to rule it out."

Roy sighed and looked over the people in the room. He was seated at his desk. On one couch was Tari and Mark. On the other was Havoc, Maes and Martin. Havoc was gesturing to the map that was sitting on the coffee table between the two couches with a red marker. On the map were several red crosses marking all of the butcher's shops, meat lockers and meat storage facilities in Central that they'd checked and ruled out. Every single place had been crossed out.

Suddenly, a thought hit Roy "Havoc? When was this map made?"

Havoc scanned over the map until he found a date. "Uh, last year."

"Go find the most recent map of Central from this year," Roy instructed "There might be new places!"

"Yes, sir!" Havoc said and swiftly left the room.

He came back five minutes later with a rolled up map in his hands.

"You were right, Chief," Havoc said as he entered the room, closing the door behind him. He unrolled the map on the table and quickly crossed out all of the places they'd already checked. "There's a new one here." He pointed to a place on the map that was about 20 kilometres away in the industrial/abandoned part of town. Very few people went there any more and those that did were the workers. There were many abandoned warehouses surrounding the new place. Who'd want to open up a shop there?

"That has to be where she's at," Maes said looking at Roy.

"We'll have to send someone to check it out," Roy spoke "It'll have to be someone who's stealthy seeing as this is most likely where he's got her."

"I'm pretty good at stealth."

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!" everyone screamed as they jumped about a foot in the air. Roy had the misfortune to accidentally topple his chair backwards when he jumped. He went down with it.

Tari, Martin, Mark, Maes and Havoc all turned to look at the source of the new voice.

"What?" the person asked.

Roy stood up, after flipping and crawling out of his toppled chair, and picked said chair up. He dusted his uniform off and straightened it. He sat down and stared at the woman, who'd rather suddenly appeared, disbelievingly.

"Where'd you come from!" Roy asked, panicked slightly.

"What do you mean? I've been sitting here for the last 15 minutes," she replied.

"Corporal Tarot, how did _you_ not see her? She's sitting right next to you!" Maes exclaimed.

Tari looked at the young Private next to her. "I honestly do not know."

"Private Lita Cortez," Roy called. Everyone turned to look at Roy. "You have the job. Acquire the other uniform, change and report back to me. I will then give you your instructions."

"Yes, sir," Lita replied.

"Uh, who's your commanding officer?" Roy asked.

"Brigadier General Russel Tromp, sir."

"Ha!" Maes laughed slapping his knees "He'll understand. I'll go inform him that we're borrowing his subordinate." He stood and looked at the Private. "Just go straight to Issue and get the uniform. I'll talk to Russel." He looked at Tari, Martin and Mark. "You guys better come with me too."

"Yes, sir," the three replied in unison.

The Major, the Corporal, the Sergeant, the Sergeant Major and the Private all left the room and headed off. This left Havoc, kneeling on the floor at the coffee table, and Roy, sitting at his desk, alone.

"What're we gonna do if we find her, Chief? What's the plan?" Havoc inquired.

"Not _'if'_ we find her, Jean. _'When'_ we find her…" Roy said.

"Yeah, that's what I meant," Havoc smiled sadly. He did not share the same optimism as his superior, but he wished he did.

* * *

A/N:

Me: Sorry for the mega-shortness...

Ed: WHO'RE YOU CALLIN' MEGA-SHORT!

Me: Ack! Ed! I wasn't talking about you! I was talking about the length of this chapter.

Ed: Well, yeah it was pretty short!

Me: _smacks Ed over the head_ Shut up! Just because Envy can play the drums and you can't doesn't mean you can take it out on me!

Envy: Yeah, short-stuff.

Me& Ed: Shut up or we'll tell everyone about how Izumi smashed you through the floor countless times!

Envy: That wasn't my fault! It was Ryoko, Sam and Ember's fault! They're the ones that put the trampoline under me!

Me: Yeah and I told you that trampolines were outdoor toys, **not** _indoor_ toys!

Envy: Shut up! _stomps off and up the stairs to sulk_

Ed: What's the matter! Got PMS!

Me: ED! NOOOO!

_icky noises_

Me: Ouch. _winces_ Anyway, I'll try and update tomorrow if I can. I've got the day off tomorrow.

Riza: Hey! Why does all the bad shit keep happening to me?

Roy: Yeah!

Me: Riza! Don' t swear around the 3-year olds! Two of them are your kids!

Izumi: What's for dinner?

Me: GET AWAY FROM MY FINGERS! ALL OF YOU! IT'S BAD ENOUGH WHEN YOU TAKE OVER MY VOICE! SHEESH! Uh, sorry about that. All the guys you've just heard from plus many others live in my head. And I'm serious, they take over my voice and occasionly my arms! Okay, um... I better go. They're circling. They want control! I think this Author's note is officially longer than the chapter now! Yikes, gotta g--

Ed: Wait! Why am I not in this chapter!

Me: Okay I'll explain. Ed and Al are helping in the search. They checked the place they were sent to and were on their way back. They stopped and called Mustang to tell him that their place was empty because they knew they were gonna be late. Anyway, on their way in Hakuro stopped them and asked them why they were helping and told them that they shouldn't get involved. So that's why they weren't there. Happy now, Ed?

Ed: Yes... I think.

Maes: Wanna see some photos!

Riza and Roy: RUN AWAY!

Maes: What'd I say?


	13. Complications

Hey guys, I'm back! _holds up shield to ward off attacks_ Sorry it's taken me so long to update but I've been so busy lately. Mum was running that damn program again, I've got a biv coming up in about two weeks and it's gonna take me about that long to pack, I had an English assignment due on Monday, (which I did most of on Sunday (evening)), and I haven't had time to type this chapter up. I told you guys it was gonna take some time to get chapters up as I ran out of pre-typed chapters quite some time ago. I was gonna update earlier today, but guess what! The internet decided to crash! My mum only recently got it back up. AHHHHH!

Anyway, I hope the length of this chapter will make up for the shortness (No Ed, I'm not talking to you) of the last chapter.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own FMA. If I did, do you think I would've let Roy and Riza go so long without kissing and hooking up thus fulfilling Maes' wish for Roy to settle down?

Okay, I've also got another story I'm gonna start posting as soon as I get a title for it. Odds are, anyone who reads it will probably kill me before I get to the good part.

**Simply Crisis:** We must talk about this issue. I could try and give you a list of all who live in my head but, uh... they keep multiplying and I keep losing people in there. I mean, I know they're there, I see them from time to time but... yeah...

Anyone else who has the same problem as the one that was demonstrated in the Author's notes of last chappy, feel free to give me a buzz.

------------------------

Chapter 13

**Complications**

"So tell me once more: where are we going and why?"

"We're currently trying to get to the place marked out on your map without being noticed."

"Why?"

"We have to see if Lieutenant Hawkeye is being held there."

"Oh yeah."

Lita sighed. Edward's questions were beginning to bug her. Especially since he'd asked them about 10 times already.

"Wait," Edward said "Why am I here?"

The two were currently running along through the alleyways trying to find the meat place without being seen or heard.

"You are here as back up, a look out and someone to confirm whether or not we've found Lieutenant Hawkeye," Lita explained. She then thought 'And to get you out of the Lieutenant Colonel's hair probably. I can understand why.'

"Oh, right."

"Fullmetal, sir, this would be a lot easier if you'd be quiet and stop asking questions. You're gonna get us found."

"Sorry," he whispered "By the way, please don't call me Fullmetal or sir, it annoys me, I'm always getting called that. Usually with some sort of extra comment tacked on the end too," he grumbled. He brightened "Call me Edward. Or better yet, Ed."

"Well then, Ed, you can call me Lita or Li. Li is my nickname. I don't like being called Private or Cortez any more than is necessary."

"Right then. Li."

The two continued to run swiftly and silently along.

Lita was now wearing the 'male' (pant) uniform with the coat tails and Ed was wearing his normal stuff save his bright red coat which would stand out too much. It was left behind.

Ed's brother, Al, had had to stay behind because he made too much noise when he moved. Al had been upset about having to stay behind, but he understood.

They continued to run in absolute silence for 20 minutes. Ed was off in deep thought the entire time thinking about different things, including his latest lead which he'd been about to go investigate when he'd gotten caught up in this mess.

Li (Lita) was focused firstly on staying silent and hidden, and secondly on getting Ed and herself to the place the quickest way possible without being seen. She was taking them on a fairly long route but it was the one she felt was safest. She'd added a few turns here and there when she'd heard people coming. The turns had lengthened the track but they still hadn't been seen or heard, so that cancelled out the fact that they'd had to run farther.

Finally, Li came to a halt. Ed, who was too deeply immersed in thought to notice this, crashed into Li's back.

"Oof! Sorry, Li!" Ed started "What's go--"

"Shh!" Li cut him off "We're here."

Ed looked up at the building in front of them.

"Is that it?" he whispered.

"Yeah," she replied quietly. She looked around for a moment "Do you see a window anywhere, Ed?"

Both looked around.

"There's one," Ed said pointing up at a small window.

"Awwoh!" both griped.

The window was three feet above them.

"How are we supposed to get up there?" Ed complained quietly.

"Um…" Li looked around for some form of boost "There!" she pointed to a large stack of old plastic milk crates. "We'll use those."

For 10 minutes they worked to build the crates up into a milk crate staircase.

"Who thought that something with 'milk' in the name would come in handy," Ed said.

"I know," Li responded.

Both shuddered and quietly exclaimed "Blech! Milk!"

"You hate milk to, huh?" Li asked.

"Don't get me started," Ed replied huffily, crossing his arms over his chest.

The two stared at their creation for a few seconds.

"That doesn't look too stable. Or safe, for that matter," Ed said, eyeing the milk crate stairway.

"It should be fine. We both have really small, light frames. I mean, I'm only 5'1"and you're no taller," Li reasoned.

Ed was able to control his rant seeing as the 'small' comment wasn't directed at his height but rather his body frame and weight. Plus, it was coming from someone about the same height as him and he could see that she hated calling herself short and small too.

"I guess you're right," Ed finally answered. He eyed the stack warily.

"Look," Li said "I'll go up first and see if anyone's even in there. You stay down here and keep and eye and ear out for people."

"Okay."

Ed watched as Li carefully climbed the milk crates. When she reached the top and began to look in, he turned around and started to do his job as look out.

Li carefully peeked through the window and counted her blessings that the crates hadn't broken. Not even she had believed what she'd said.

She wiped some frost off of the window so that she could see in better. She gasped at what she saw.

"Edward!" Li hissed at the boy "Edward, get up here!"

Ed spun around and looked at Li who was beckoning him up. He began to climb the crates. 'Wow,' he thought as he climbed 'Li was right about these crates. They feel a lot more stable than they look.'

Ed got up to where Li was at after about 30 seconds of careful climbing.

"Have a look," Li pointed to the window.

Both peered in and looked at the woman hanging by her wrists in the room. She looked unconscious.

"Is that her?" Li asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Ed replied "You're probably gonna hate me for doing this, but this'll also show us if she's conscious."

Before Li could respond, Ed knocked on the window with his right arm.

"Automail?" Li asked.

"How'd ya know?"

"The sound your hand made when it hit the glass was very distinctive."

"How do you know about Automail?"

"Half of my left arm is Automail. I'll show you and tell you about it later. Knock again. I think I saw her move."

Ed knocked again and this time he too saw the woman stir.

The woman looked up at the window. Ed and Li waved at her. She looked confused and said something, but neither Ed nor Li could make it out. She had a feverish tinge to her cheeks. They noticed this just before her head fell forward again. Either she'd passed out, or was too weak to keep her head up.

"Well?" Li asked.

"Yeah," Ed nodded "It's her."

The door on the other side of the room they could see through the window opened and both of them ducked down.

After a few seconds, they carefully peeked back up over the window ledge.

A man had entered the room and was speaking. Neither of them could make out his face as it was the only thing hidden in shadow. Luckily, his back was mostly to them. They knew for certain that he wasn't looking at the window.

After a few more seconds, he turned sideways and stepped into the light. They could now clearly see his face.

Ed tensed. The memories came flooding back. 'Not him,' he thought 'Why him? Why Barry the Chopper?'

Li felt Ed tense beside her. She turned to look at him and saw a look of complete and utter terror on his face. His pupils were mere dots and no light seemed to reflet off of his eyes. His teeth were gritted. She was about to ask him what was wrong when he screamed. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the man stiffen.

Before he could turn around and see them, Li put a hand over Ed's mouth to muffle his screams and pushed him down, throwing herself down too. She held him to her with his back to her stomach as they fell and when they landed. She thought maybe the sounds they'd made would be ignored, but then the milk crate staircase fell down on top of them with a loud echoing 'CRASH'.

She continued to hold a hand to Ed's mouth and hold him to her to keep him still. She held her breath and held perfectly still.

A few seconds passed of nothing except Ed's muffled screams to break the silence. Then, Li heard a door open and close and footsteps coming their way.

How were they going to get out of this?

-------------------

Dun dun dun...

Okay, I realise Ed is probably a bit OOC in this chappy but bear with me. He has to be, otherwise it doesn't work. Also, Li is a bit of a tomboy. Thus, the boyish nickname. No offence to anyone out there whose nickname is Li and are not a tomboy! Her hatred of milk is based off of two people. Me and my bestie. We both hate milk!

Ed: So do I!

Me + everyone in my head: We know!

Ed: Oh...

Me: Just... go upstairs and play video games with Al.

Ed: Yippee!_ runs quickly upstairs_

Me: Ooookaaay...

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I make no promises about when the next chapter will be up, but uh... I will promise to update as soon as I possibly can! _thumps chest_

Laters!


	14. Not Listening and Missing

Hello all! I'm back! I'll try and make this A/N quick so that you can just go ahead and read.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own FMA or its characters. The only thing that belongs to me is this plot. Hell, I don't even own the title. That was my friends doing. If I did own FMA I wouldn't be sitting here doing my own damn homework.

Thanks to everyone for being so patient with me. Cookies for all...! ...who aren't threatening me with torches and pitchforks or anything else... _sees angry mob dicreetly slip torches and pitchforks behind back whilst whistling innocently _Uh... _sweatdrops_ I can still see 'em ya know! _angry mob slip items further behind back and stand shoulder to shoulder_

Angry Mob: No you can't!

Me: Ooooookaaayyy..._slowly backs away _I'm just gonna leave... now...

Updates are going to be rather slow. The end of term is coming up and that means tests and assignments galore! I'll update whenever I can though. Also, I won't be here this weekend as I'm going Canyoning with cadets. That means no updates this weekend. Sorry!

Angry Mob: _glares_

Me: _drops box of cookies and turns tail and runs_

Angry Mob: Coward!

Me: She who turns and runs away lives to write another day!

------------------

Chapter 14

**Not Listening and Missing**

She hung there weakly in the cold room that to her seemed to be getting colder. The only sound she could hear was her own laboured breathing.

She remained there for several silent hours. She watched as her breath came out in puffs. Why couldn't she just pass out? Or die?

She knew she couldn't die yet. She still had someone to protect and help. She knew that someone would eventually come and rescue her, but still, at this point she was so cold, so numb and in so much pain that she didn't care.

Also, she was feeling light-headed, groggy and almost constantly dizzy.

A few minutes passed. Then she heard what sounded like voices. She ignored the sound. Shortly after that she heard the sound of metal tapping on glass. She shifted a little to stretch her neck, ignoring the sound. The tap came again. She looked up at the window. Two faces were peering in at her. They waved. One of the faces looked familiar.

"Edward," she slurred faintly upon realizing who it was.

A wave of dizziness washed over her and the effort it took to hold her head up was taking too much strength. She let it drop.

The door opened and Barry entered once more.

Riza closed her eyes and pretended to be unconscious. Maybe he'd leave her alone if he thought she was out of it.

He started to speak to her, but she couldn't care less about what he was saying, so she tuned him out. He yabbered on for a few minutes before moving a little towards her.

"Hmph. She must really be unconscious," Barry murmured.

'Yes,' Riza thought 'Now go back out the door and f-'

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" a loud scream echoed throughout the room. It was followed a few seconds later by a loud crash.

"I'll come back later," Barry said and quickly exited the room.

"Run," Riza mumbled weakly.

-----------

Barry quickly exited the room he was keeping the blonde Lieutenant in and went to the front door. He exited the small building and walked around to the alleyway.

In the alley there was a huge stack of old plastic milk crates that had collapsed across the empty space. The collapse he could blame on a cat. Goodness knows there were enough of them.

The scream, however, could have only come from one creature.

_A Human._

Barry walked over to the crates and began to dig through them. He would enjoy dissecting whoever had been spying on him.

He finally found the ground under the crates after several minutes of digging. His insane grin vanished. There was no one there.

He kicked all of the crates out of the way and looked in every possible hiding spot in the alley. He peered around into the connecting alleys and saw no one.

'What a shame,' he thought. He'd been looking forward to killing the person.

"Oh well," he muttered and then turned and left the alleyway to go back inside.

----------------

I hope everyone enjoyed that chapter. I know it was short but...meh...

Anyway, we shouldn't be hearing from my headnoise for a while. They went on vacation! Woot! o.0 XD No headnoise! Yay! Woohoo! _starts doing flips and dancing everywhere_

Anyway I gotta go. I should be doing homework and my momma's on da prowl.

BYE!

Luv,

E.T. XOX


	15. And People Actually Fell for It aka The

Holy Crap! I updated and it hasn't been over a week! _has heartattack and falls to floor... then jumps back up _I'm good!

Since I finished typing this long before I expected to, I decided I'd be kind and update before I leave tomorrow night. I'm going up to some place that's really cold for two days and two nights. I'll be back sometime Sunday. I'm going abseilling. That is, if the weather improves. It's been raining for two or three days straight now, not that I'm complaining! Goodness knows we need all the rain we can get during this drought.

**Discaimer:** I don't own FMA! If I did, the last episode and the movie wouldn't have stunk so bad and there would've been tons and tons of Royai. That, and I wouldn't be sitting here finishing up my science report that is due tomorrow that I have been working on since Tuesday. That's two days out of two weeks! Man, I'm lazy!

Also, just a question: Do any of you guys live in Australia? More specifically, Queensland? Cuz' I've got this wierd feeling that I'm being followed...

Warnings: Ed is probably OOC in this chappy. Sadly, if he is, he needs to be otherwise the following situations would not work. So... just go with it.

----------------

Chapter 15

**And People Actually Fell for It / They Don't Give Acting Lessons in the Military**

Li lay absolutely flat and still on her back with Ed, on his back, on top of her. She had one arm across his waist holding him still and the other hand was holding his mouth shut to muffle his screams.

Below her in the alley, she could hear the man moving about, digging through the pile of crates and generally making a lot of noise. Li was glad that the man was making so much noise, otherwise he would have heard Ed screaming and crying.

How she'd managed to get up onto the roof of the abandoned apartment building she was on by climbing a ladder whilst holding Ed, muffling his screams and being completely silent was beyond her. What stumped her even more was that she'd done it in less than 10 seconds. She just decided to mark it up to fear and adrenaline doing weird things.

Only God knew. And only God knew ho she'd gotten out from under those crates so quickly.

She waited until she heard the man go back into his building before she dared to move.

Once she was certain he was gone, she sat up. She glanced down the edge of the building and stumped herself even more. She'd managed to climb up six (6) storeys to get to the roof.

"How the…?" she muttered. She shook her head and decided to figure it out later.

She looked at Ed. His eyes were screwed shut and tears flowed from his eyes. He was still trying to scream so Li kept her hand firmly over Ed's mouth.

She stood and made her way over to the door that led to the stairwell that led down through the building and to the ground floor.

Naturally, the door was closed.

Li studied it. It looked really old. She gave the door a well placed kick and it flew off of its hinges. She manoeuvred into the stairwell and carefully made her way down to the ground floor.

When she finally made it to the bottom floor and was out the doors and outside again, she was pleased to discover that Ed had quit screaming. Now he was just crying. It still made noise, but not as much as screaming did.

"Some 'human weapon' you are," Li mumbled.

She took her hand off of Ed's mouth, picked him up and hefted him over one of her shoulders. She was quite strong for someone her size.

After she got him settled on her shoulder, she took off into the alleys again, taking the fastest route she knew of to get to downtown Central. She didn't particularly want to go there, but it was the nearest people-filled area with phones.

It took her 15 minutes to arrive at her destination. It should've only taken 5 but she'd had to stop a couple of times to catch her breath and shift Ed. That and she got lost a few times.

When she erupted into downtown Central from the alleys, she didn't slow down.

She thought she must've looked so odd. A very short woman in a military uniform running down the streets very quickly with a boy slung over her shoulder.

Li was glad that it was midday. There weren't as many people to contend with as she made her way down the streets. There were still lots of people, but not as many.

She was looking for a particular place but it was hard to focus with Ed crying constantly.

Finally, she had enough and stopped. She dropped Ed to the ground and knelt down in front of him. Every time she went to speak to Ed to calm him down, someone would come over and ask if Ed was okay. Each time she answered that he was fine.

A group of people had gathered around the two.

Another person moved forward.

"Is he okay?"

"Look, everyone, just back off! He's," she paused "He's my little brother and he's just upset because we just got some really bad news! Okay!"

All of the people seemed to accept this despite the fact that Li and Ed looked nothing alike.

"Ed," Li said "Ed! Edward!" Ed continued to cry "Edward! Edward Elric! Calm down this instant!" He kept crying.

'SMACK'

Li slapped Ed across the cheek with her gloved Automail hand and he stopped crying and simply sat there shocked.

People in the crowd started to murmur and whisper about them.

"I'm sorry, Ed, but you left me no choice. You were drawing a crowd," Li told him.

Ed reached a hand up and touched his cheek where Lita had slapped him. He looked over at her. Her sky blue eyes looked pained and some of her greyish-black hair had come loose and was hanging freely about her face. He looked around at the crowd and jumped slightly. He looked back at Lita. 'Oops,' he mouthed, clearly meaning the crowd.

Li nodded. 'Yeah, oops,' she mouthed back.

"Thank you for that, Li," he said aloud "I needed that. I don't know what came over me.

"You're welcome, little brother," Li said as she moved her hand up next to her face in a gesture that to the crowd would've looked like she was waving, without the movement. Ed, however, knew that it was a field signal meaning 'that way'. She was pointing at the crowd.

Ed nodded to show that he understood.

The two stood up. Li quickly hugged Ed and Ed, catching on quickly, hugged back.

"Don't worry. I know. I read the file," Li said, low enough that only Ed could hear her.

"Good. So you know that he tried to kill me a few weeks ago?" Ed replied, equally as low.

"Yeah. So Mustang didn't tell you it was Barry?"

"No."

"Bastard."

Ed snorted as the two broke the hug.

"How 'bout I buy you a treat?" Li announced trying to sound normal.

"That sounds good, sis," Ed replied, playing along.

The two walked away as quickly as they could without looking suspicious. They had thoroughly embarrassed themselves back there.

After they rounded a corner, Li decided to speak.

"We never speak of this again."

"Deal," Ed said.

They continued to walk until they found a nice little coffee house a few streets away from their little 'brother/sister' scene.

They took a seat in a far corner of the restaurant where they weren't too likely to be seen or heard. They both ordered the same thing, an extra strong _black_ coffee.

"Wait here, Ed. I'll be back in a few minutes. I need to go make a call," Li said while they were waiting for their coffee.

"Okay," Ed replied.

Lita got up and left the coffee house. She walked for a few blocks along the same street until she found a phone box. She dialled the number for the main desk, gave her security codes and got patched through to Mustang.

"_Mustang."_

"Hello, sir. It's Private Lita Cortez."

"_Ah, Cortez! Where are you? Why are you calling me from a normal line?"_

"Look, sir, we found her. She's there, but she doesn't look to good. Fullmetal and I have stopped at the coffee house on… Hang on a second," she leaned out of the phone box and looked around for a street name. "We're at the coffee house on Sakura Street. Could you please send a car for us in ten minutes, sir?"

"_Why ten minutes?"_

"We need some time to calm down, sir. We've just been through quite an ordeal."

"_Okay, 10 minutes. Be ready."_

"Yes, sir. Oh, and sir?" she said before Mustang could hang up.

"_Yes?"_

"I apologize in advance for this and am willing to accept any punishment you see fit," she took a deep breath "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DIDN'T TELL HIM YOU BASTARD!"

She slammed the phone onto the hook and huffed. She then blinked and looked at all of the people who'd stopped to stare at her when she'd yelled.

She sweatdropped and laughed nervously while rubbing the back of her head and waving her other hand.

People just turned and left to continue their business and leave the strange, short, big-chested, military woman alone.

"Phew," she sighed and left the phone box.

She arrived back at the coffee house a few minutes later to discover that their order had been filled.

She sat down across from Ed and quickly took a sip of her coffee.

"Oh god I love coffee," she sighed.

"I agree," Ed said.

As they drank their coffee, Li informed Ed that someone would be there to get them in a few minutes. She also showed him her Automail and explained that she'd lost her left arm up to just below her elbow after being bitten by a venomous snake when she was 11.

8 minutes later, Jean Havoc walked up to their table and informed them that their ride had arrived.

Li and Ed quickly downed the remainder of their coffee. Li went and payed for the coffee while Ed and Havoc went outside to wait in the car.

As soon as she was in the car, she took the front passenger's seat, Havoc started the drive back to HQ.

"Well?" Havoc asked, eager to know. Mustang had told him nothing except where to pick Ed and Li up from before, quite literally, shoving him out the door.

"We found her," both Ed and Li responded.

-----------

A/N: The doctors couldn't save that part of Lita's arm so it had to be amputated before the venom spread further. She got Automail shortly after. She wears gloves. Her chest is severely out of proportion to her body.

NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! They came back! My headnoise came back from vacation!

Ahem. Sorry about that.

Anyway, the bit about loving coffee is dedicated to my friend who practically lives on the stuff.

See you next update!


	16. A Quiet Comparison

A/N: Woot! The line break is working again! Um..._sees pissed off readers_ Uh oh..._quickly picks up garbage can lid for a shield and a wooden baseball bat to smash rotten food, flaming cattle skulls and everything else away_

Hey guys I'm back! How long has it been? Three or four weeks, no? I'm really sorry about the long wait but everything's been so hectic lately. They day after I came back from camping I heard on the radio that Steve Irwin had died. I was in shock for several days after that. I had to do assignments for school (it's almost holidays). In fact, I've just arrived home about and hour ago (it's currently 1:34pm Wednesday the 20th of September) after going to South Bank to watch the memorial service on the big screen in the Suncorp Piazza. I went with friends, one of whom knew the man. While everyone was clapping along I realised that in that moment, thousands of people were united. A beautiful thought really.

Okay, this is probably going to be the last update (there's a possibility of one more short chappy if I get enough reviews) for at least one or two weeks. I'll try to update during the second week of holidays before I have to go back to school. Starting on the 23rd, I am going camping for 7 days. I will be no where near computers for that time span. Sorry.

I hope I didn't lose anybody after the last chapter. Look, I know it was lame and for that I'm sorry. I did warn you at the beginning of the chapter that Ed was OOC.

Anyway, in a situation like the following, people do have a tendency to go phsyco over little things and try to deal with bad stuff with humour.

**Disclaimer:** IT IS NOT MINE! I DO NOT OWN FMA! IT'S NOT MY FAULT IF THEY ALL HAPPEN TO LIVE IN MY HEAD AND MAKE CLONES OF THEMSELVES AND HAVE BABIES AT AN ALARMING RATE!

... I just said that out loud... didn't I...?

* * *

Chapter 16 

**A Quiet Comparison**

Lita sighed. She had not been looking forward to this the whole trip back and judging by Ed's posture an expression neither had he.

The two were sitting on the couches in Mustang's office, Li on one and Ed on the other. Both were still utterly embarrassed about their little role play and prayed that news of it wouldn't reach HQ. They especially hoped it wouldn't reach Mustang, Tromp or Hughes. They were the three major gossips, Hughes more so. They also agreed that that little detail would be left out of the report.

After 5 more minutes of waiting in silence, Mustang finally entered the room with 3 cups of steaming hot coffee. Mustang handed them one each and then sat at his desk with his cup of coffee, already drinking it.

Ed and Li each took a careful sip of their coffee as the liquid was still burning hot. As soon as the fluid made contact with their tastebuds, they made disgusted faces, moved the coffee away from their mouths and forced themselves to swallow. Then:

"Blech! This is white coffee!"

"Yeah, so?" Roy replied taking another swig of his coffee.

"It has milk!" (A/N: Ed and Li are speaking in unison)

"So?"

"It has milk!"

"I still don't see the problem."

"Milk is disgusting! I refuse to drink anything secreted from a cow!"

This was about when Roy got an evil idea and continued to play dumb. (A/N: Play? Hah!)

"What's the problem? Milk has calcium. Calcium is good for bones. It helps you get stronger and taller. Goodness knows it wouldn't hurt either of you. You're both so short."

_Idiot._

"WHO'RE YOU CALLIN' SO SMALL THAT THEY COULD EASILY BE MISTAKEN FOR A CHILD'S DOLL!"

Dwut Dwut – Roy blinked.

"Ooookaaay," Roy said, drawing the word out "I expected that from Fullmetal, but not you Cortez."

"Yes, well," Li started "Brigadier General Tromp learned the hard way too."

Ed and Li dropped back into their seats.

"Tell me about what you found," Roy requested seriously.

Li nodded, so did Ed "Right," they replied.

"We're going to have to move fast. She doesn't look too good," Li told him.

"It might be better if everyone was here so we only have to go through this once," Ed suggested.

"Yes, definitely," Roy nodded "I want both of you to go fetch Major Hughes, Second Lieutenant Havoc, Sergeant Major Halaway, Sergeant Green, Corporal Tarot and Alphonse. If you can get Brigadier General Tromp to come too, it wouldn't hurt."

"Yes, sir," Li responded as she stood and saluted. She dropped the salute, turned and began to leave. Ed quickly jumped up and went after her. They closed the door behind them.

Roy watched the short Private and the equally short alchemist leave the room. He waited until the doors closed and he was certain that they were gone before rising from his chair and moving to stand in front of his window, his hands behind his back. He stood so close to the window that he was practically pressed up against it.

He looked up at the sky.

"It looks like it's going to rain again," he muttered to himself.

Clouds were growing larger, darker and more ominous in the sky, slowly blocking out the mid-morning sun. It wasn't just going to rain, it was going to storm.

He sighed sadly. He leaned his forehead against the cool glass of the large window. His arms fell to his sides and his eyes slid shut. A tear escaped and rolled down his cheek.

Steam rose in twist and coils, being manipulated by the air around it. The three cups of coffee, one half-empty, sat forgotten on the desk behind Roy and the coffee table between the two couches. They were rapidly losing their heat. They were quickly becoming cold and undrinkable. They would soon be too cold to re-heat and be saved.

* * *

A/N: Sorry, a little more rambling from me. 

A brownie to the person who can figure out why this chapter is called what it is called and tell me what the comparison is.

**Next Chapter:** We check in on Riza.

**Next, Next Chapter:** A crappy filler with plenty of humour mixed in. I think I must've been on something when I wrote it. Probably Crack.

BTW, I don't do crack. Or any drugs for that matter.

Again, my apologies for the long wait. Sorry. Entschuldigung. Tut mir Lied. Gomen Nasai. Um... Oh crap! I don't know how to say sorry in any more languages. (A cookie for whoever can tell me what the second and third languages are)

R&R! Please!


	17. Contemplation

Hi guys! I'm back. Sorry I didn't update last week, I was busy trying to catch up with friends, doing chores and catching up on lost Z's.

Anyway, sorry about the length of this chapter but the next one will be at least a little longer. This chapter is a quick check up on our heroine, Riza. The next chapter is basically a recount of chapters 14 and 15. It's really just a filler. Sorry. But don't worry, it's got it's share of humour mixed in.

Y'know, what's funny is that this story was only supposed to go for 10-15 chapters. Instead it's gonna go for 27 or 28. I've finished writing it down, now it's just a matter of typing it up and posting it.

**Disclaimer:** Look, it's not --ENVY! PUT THAT DOWN!-- mine. I don't own -- WRATH! QUIT BOUNCING OFF THE WALLS-- FMA or -- HAVOC! QUIT SMOKING IN THE HOUSE! DO YOU REALISE HOW MANY PREGNANT WOMEN ARE AROUND! INCLUDING YOUR WIFE! -- it's characters. All I own is the plot of this story... "What... no one's gonna do anything?..." _BANG_ RIZA NO SHOOTING IN THE-- Oh... you're not shooting... you're... you... Roy... OH GROSS!

I'll leave you to your story now... I'm just gonna go hide somewhere... Maybe if I'm lucky you guys'll find me and kill me... I don't wanna see that again again...

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Chapter 17

**Contemplation**

Riza's teeth chattered as her body shivered in a futile attempt to keep itself warm.

She had no clue what time it was. She guessed it was mid- to late- morning or early afternoon. It was really hard to tell, the light was slowly dimming. It wasn't dimming like if the sun was setting, more like clouds or something was blocking out the sun's light.

Both of her arms were completely and totally numb. She couldn't move them at all unless she really focused. Of course, her mind was in such a groggy state that she couldn't focus on something as trivial as that for more than a few seconds. As well as that, it hurt to move her arms, especially the left one.

The same went for her right leg. It was numb through and through. It was easier to move than her arms but it caused even more pain to move her leg.

The only limb that she could move without pain was her left leg. Not that it did her much good. Standing wouldn't do much for her.

Her eyes started to slide shut. As soon as they were closed they shot straight back open. She couldn't fall asleep. If that really had been Edward and another military officer she'd seen earlier, and not just another hallucination, then help should arrive soon.

Hanging there, _forcing_ herself to stay conscious, she felt useless. _Completely _andutterly useless. This was the first time she'd ever felt truly helpless. It scared her.

Three out of four of her limbs were unusable and even if they weren't and she wasn't chained up, she had no weapons. Sure she could do hand-to-hand, but it really wouldn't do much good if her opponent was armed with a knife.

Her amber eyes started to slide shut again. She let them.

She would just rest her eyes for a minute.

Just for a minute…

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A/N: _rocking back and forth_ Kill me. Kill me. Kill me. It's not like I haven't seen them before... but still... Kill me. Kill me... 


End file.
